“We deserve to be made a statue of us!”

Throughout history, they have all played at least once. By far, the reference match is the one against the United States of America, from the 1994 World Cup, a historic tournament for our national team, 1-0 success, thanks to Dan Petrescu's successful goal. Romania finished the group in first place.

Romania at the 1994 World Championship / photo: GSP Archive

Below are all the matches played by the Romanian national team against the three teams they will face at the North American World Cup, if they manage to get past Turkey in the spring, initially, and then the winner of the semi-final Kosovo – Slovakia. The match against Turkey is scheduled for March 26, away. An eventual final will also take place on the road, on March 31.

Romania vs the United States of America

Romania played four times against the representative team from the United States of America, winning twice.

The first match was on August 28, 1991friendly, at home, in Brașov, defeat 0-2.

The Romanian team from that match:

• Florian Prunea (Bogdan Stelea 46); Vasile Mănăilă, Adrian Popescu, Emil Săndoi, Dorinel Munteanu, Sorin Vlaicu; Ion Timofte (Ion Adrian Pigulea 60), Ilie Dumitrescu (Pavel Badea 46), Dorin Mateuţ (Ioan Moga 46); Marius Lăcătuş, Gavril Balint (Romulus Buia 60).

Later, the two teams met on February 7, 1993in a friendly played away, on “Harder” from Santa Barbara, ended in a tie, score 1-1.

The Romanian team from that match:

• Florian Prunea; Silvian Cristescu, Cătălin Necula, Emil Săndoi, Dorinel Munteanu; Daniel Timofte, Ovidiu Stăngă, Dănuţ Moisescu, Costel Pană (Gheorghe Ceaușilă 58); Ovidiu Hanganu (Ionel Gane 86), Ilie Dumitrescu.

Then, in 1994, Fr February 13, 1994Romania won 2-1, in a friendly match, in Hong Kong.

The Romanian team from that match:

• Florin Prunea; Zoltan Kadar, Gheorghe Mihali, Daniel Prodan, Dorin Bogdan Zotincă (Ilie Stan 88); Basarab Panduru, Leo Florin Grozavu, Corneliu Papură, Constantin Gâlcă; Radu Niculescu, Ilie Dumitrescu (Gheorghe Craioveanu 85).

The reference match dates from June 26, 1994historic success, at the World Championship, score 1-0, thanks to Dan Petrescu's goal, achieved in front of 106,000 spectators at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles.

The Romanian team from that match:

• Florin Prunea; Dan Petrescu, Miodrag Belodedici (Gheorghe Mihali 87), Daniel Prodan Tibor Selymes; Dorinel Munteanu, Ilie Dumitrescu, Gheorghe Popescu, Ioan Lupescu; Florin Răducioiu (Constantin Gâlcă 83), Gheorghe Hagi.

Romania vs Australia

Romania met the Australian national team only once throughout history, in a friendly match, in Ciudad de Málaga, on February 6, 2013ended with the victory of the “tricolors”, score 3-2. At halftime it was 1-1.

The Romanian team from that match:

• Costel Pantilimon, Răzvan Raț (46 Ștefan Radu), Gabriel Tamaș, Vlad Chiricheș, Dorin Goian (84 Srdjan Luchin), Alexandru Bourceanu (56 Costin Lazăr), Cristian Tănase (71 Alexandru Maxim), Gabriel Torje (89 Aurelian Chițu), Mihai Pintilii, Gheorghe Grozav (62 Marius Alexe), Bogdan Stancu.

• They scored: Cristian Tanase (34), Alexandru Maxim (80), Gabriel Torje (83), Luke Wilkshire (45), Robert Cornthwaite (54)

Romania vs Paraguay

Against the national team from Paraguay, Romania played two games, both friendlies. The first was on June 3, 1998at home, in Ghencea, 3-2 victory, in the penultimate friendly match before the last World Cup in which I participated. Then, Adrian Ilie managed a “double”, and Gică Hagi scored from the penalty. The match was marked by a scandalous incident that had Bogdan Stelea in the foreground, who showed obscene signs to the public.

Also then, Gică Hagi was the one who asked for statues for him and the rest of his teammates: “What Iordănescu says is normal! We play for Romania! We worked for money. Stick with the national team!

I used you badly for 10 years. What conditions do we have, we don't have any football. What performances are there in Romania? We are seeded at the World Cup. Don't underestimate us! We play football well.

We deserve to make a statue of us. What are the conditions in Romania, you have to make us a statue. We do our job well. In 3 years our football is gone. The results are with us.” Hagi said then at the press conference.

The Romanian team from that match:

• Bogdan Stelea; Dan Petrescu, Iulian Filipescu, Gheorghe Popescu, Cristian Dulca, Dorinel Munteanu (Ilie Dumitrescu 81); Gheorghe Hagi (Liviu Ciobotariu 89), Gabriel Popescu (Ovidiu Stîngă 60), Constantin Gâlcă; Viorel Moldovan (Marius Lăcătuş 60), Adrian Ilie (Gheorghe Craioveanu 70).

• They scored: Ilie (4, 57), Cardozo (27), Acuna (64), Hagi (84, penalty)

Later, the two national teams also met on June 11, 2011away, at Defensores del Chacoesec, 0-2.

The Romanian team from that match:

• Costel Pantilimon, Cornel Râpa, Paul Papp (46 Cristian Oros), Florin Gardoş, Iasmin Latovlevici, Gabriel Torje (84 Liviu Antal), Gabriel Mureşan (head, 61 Dan Alexa), Gabriel Giurgiu (46 Alexandru Bourceanu), Cristian Tănase (73 Romeo Surdu), Ianis Zicu (46 Lucian Sânmartean), Marius Alexe.

Key facts about the 2026 World Cup

• The 2026 World Championship will be held in 3 countries: USA, Mexico and Canada. It will take place between June 11 and July 19. It will be the first tournament in history with 48 teams;

• The World Championship will debut in an expanded format, with 48 teams, the participants being divided into 12 groups of four. From each group, the top two teams, as well as the best eight third-placed teams, will advance, thus forming the 32-team knockout phase;

• The tournament will feature a total of 104 matches over 38 days, making it the longest World Cup in history.

2026 World Cup groups

• Group A: Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, UEFA Play-off D (Denmark, North Macedonia, Czech Republic, Ireland)

• Group B: Canada, UEFA Play-off A (Italy, Northern Ireland, Wales, Bosnia), Qatar, Switzerland

• Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland

• Group D: USA, Paraguay, Australia, UEFA Play-off C (Turkey, Romania, Slovakia, Kosovo)

• Group E: Germany, Curacao, Ivory Coast, Ecuador

• Group F: Netherlands, Japan, UEFA Play-off B (Ukraine, Sweden, Poland, Albania), Tunisia

• Group G: Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand

• Group H: Spain, Cape Verde Islands, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay

• Group I: France, Senegal, Play-off 2 (Iraq, Bolivia, Suriname), Norway

• Group J: Argentina, Algeria, Austria, Jordan

• Group K: Portugal, FIFA Play-off 1 (New Caledonia, DR Congo, Jamaica), Uzbekistan, Colombia

• Group L: England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama