Mircea Lucescu, conference before Bosnia

• Bosnia – Romania, the penultimate match of the WC 2026 preliminaries, will be played on Saturday, November 15, from 21:45.

• The Zenica duel will be liveTEXT on GSP.ro, with real-time information from Gazeta Sporturilor reporters present at the stadium, and live on Prima TV

At the “Bilino Polje” stadium in Zenica, the arena where Saturday's match will be played, the coach spoke about the importance of the game, Romania's chances of beating Bosnia and getting at least 2nd place in the group, also mentioning the match in the round.

How Mircea Lucescu prefaced the Bosnia-Romania match: “I have no reason to be afraid of this match”

“Fired? I can't be fired!”, Lucescu said at the start of the conference, when asked by a Bosnian journalist if he feared he would be kicked out if he lost.

Then he continued: “For me it's not pressure, but a responsibility to make a competitive team that will go to the World Cup. Now we are playing against a team that did not deserve to win in Bucharest. If the referee gave us that penalty, which was perfectly valid, the match was different. We definitely dominated the match. I have no reason to fear this match.

It will be a difficult match with a team that has experienced players but also young players who have played with good teams in the Nations League. But this does not mean that we will have a difficult match, it will be a regular qualifying match”.

Mircea Lucescu: “I have no problems with the team”

Then he also talked about the team's problems, caused by the absence of central defenders Radu Drăgușin and Andrei Burcă.

“Strength? What we have done recently. We lost about 9-10 players recently. It had to change, we built a new team, which has an important base. We added a way to interpret the game more rationally and made the players not afraid of anything. I hope it shows tomorrow.

I have no problems with the team, we have good and experienced centre-backs. Everyone prepared very well. I'm sure they will behave as they should and forget those who are not. That's football, the best team goes in. It's my problem whether I already set the first 11 or not. Everyone is ready to play. I know very well what they have to do,” added the selector.

I do not duel in statements. I explain, argue and that's all. Shall I talk to Răzvan Marin? Why? It's normal for a player who isn't playing to be upset. The problem would have been if he wasn't angry!

– Mircea Lucescu

Mircea Lucescu accepted only 4 questions from the Romanian journalists present in Bosnia. He ended the conference to go to the official training.

What Ionuț Radu said before Bosnia – Romania: “It is not comfortable to finish in 3rd place, but to go to the World Cup”

• “Sometimes we save a lot of Dzeko's shots in Inter training, other times he scores a lot. He's a Bosnian legend, nice to meet him again. He's had an incredible career”
• “I don't think our team will be weakened without traditional centre-backs. We have a very good squad, valuable players. It doesn't mean it's weaker”
• “The life of a footballer can change very quickly. I always tried to have the same mentality and that helped me even when it was difficult. I am happy and proud to be here. I will continue to give my best for the national team”
• “It's not comfortable to finish 3rd, but to go to the World Cup. I'm not thinking about the play-off, I'm just thinking about winning tomorrow”
• “We are going into the match with great confidence. I have great faith in this generation. We are aware that we have to make appearances in the final tournaments a normality, not a miracle. If we approach the matches like the one with Austria, we will confirm the good things done at the EURO. I want to make the fans happy. I want them to trust us and be with us”
• “We always believed in ourselves. The match against Austria was a confirmation of the work we put in. We recovered, we realized the qualities and what we are capable of doing. It gave us confidence. Tomorrow we play equal and the best will win”