Costi Prună reveals that it was George Buricea's last match on the national team bench! Criticism of the “system”

Romania was the super favorite for the play-off qualification, after winning the tour match in Turkey with 37-32 on Thursday, a game in which they also had a 9-goal lead.

What happened from Thursday to Sunday, when Romania went from an advantage of plus 5 to a deficit of minus 6?

We are looking for explanations for the defeat with Turkey. And yet, is that really how we ended up?

Against the game in Turkey, Romania was missing goalkeeper Dan Vasile, who suffered a muscle tear, and pivot Andras Szasz, strained ligaments. Vasile had defended 8 balls in the tour match with Turkey, and Szasz was a key man in defense

Daniel Stanciuc wasn't supposed to play the return leg from Buzău either, after a sprain suffered in the last training session on Saturday, but the Dynamo player wanted to help the team, announcing during the warm-up that he could play. The technical staff said that he will enter the match if necessary…

The players looked tired, but also mentally disconnected, believing themselves qualified after winning in Turkey 37-32, otherwise it is inexplicable how to express themselves with the same opponent, 3 days apart.

Gabriel Ilie and Liviu Caba were two of the players who, after about 10 minutes of play, asked for a change. Sources close to the national team told GSP that they were out of rhythm as they hadn't played in about 3 months.

Even so, Romania was never allowed to lose against Turkey at home. Never.

Why some players don't come to the national team anymore

Three important players, Robert Militaru, Daniel Racotea and Dragoș Hanțaru, they refused, for various reasons, the invitation for the double with Turkey. Certainly, Romania would have been much stronger, and probably the team would have qualified for the play-offs.

Robert Militaru (left), Daniel Racoțea and Dragoș Hanțaru refused the invitation to the national team. Photo: Instagram

Two of the 3 internationals have not forgotten the poor conditions offered by FRH before leaving for EURO 2026, and the Vaslui international is unhappy because he played too little for the national team when he was called up.

Sources close to the national team revealed that in the training camp in Bucharest before the European tournament, the national team did not have good accommodation and meals, and the training was done at the Apollo hall, where the heating system was broken for 2 days. Another problem was the distance between the hotel and the gym, a journey of about an hour.

I had variants 3, 4 and 5 on some stations

Apart from the 3 absences, George Buricea could not use Ionuț Iancu, Demis Grigoraș, Călin Dedu, Robert Nagy due to injuries.

In the match in Buzău, Romania lacked 8 players out of the 16, compared to the last match at EURO 2026 against North Macedonia, a match lost by the tricolors at the limit, 23-24. Due to absences, the selector George Buricea used options 4 and 5 in the pivot position, Bogdan Oancea and Bogdan Rață, and for the goalkeeper, the 3rd solution, Vlăduț Rusu, and the 5th, Denis Ștefan.

Unfortunately, in the double with Turkey, Romania seemed more like a divisional team than a national team. However, the qualification should not be missed, because otherwise the enormous salaries of the Romanian players in contradiction with the results obtained cannot be justified in any way.

Money will never play

Here is one of the big problems in Romanian handball, the great custom of the faulty or even sick system.

To pay the underperformance with thousands of euros, but not with 2,000-3,000, but with 6,000-10,000 euros… It's the mistake that buries Romanian men's handball!

In fact, it is not a mistake, but a “systemic crime”, because the coaches and heads of clubs are also very well paid, all from public money. Since no one rates them, they really think they are worth the money they sign up for monthly.

About the selector George Buricea

For two years in the national team, George Buricea was in the last match on the national team bench. His contract with FRH expires on April 28 and he will remain a coach only at SCM Poli Timișoara.

It is interesting that if Romania passed Turkey, Buricea no longer had a contract with FRH and for the double with Norway, this being another problem of the Federation, which probably did not motivate the selector after qualifying for EURO 2026.

George Buricea / PHOTO: Imago

Ambitious by nature, George Buricea succeeded in qualifying the national team for EURO 2026, where the team showed its limits and ranked 22nd out of 24 teams.

Logically, Buricea's Romania had to pass Turkey on the way to the World Cup, but the team lost overall with a score of 68-69.

What is wrong with Buricea for the defeat against Turkey in Buzău or actually for the double with the Turks?

First of all, that, in the game on Thursday in Turkey, he could not keep his players focused when the team had 8-9 goals against the opponent.

Romania's 37-32 victory clearly brought a mental relaxation to the players for Sunday's match in Buzău, which the coach could no longer control.

Buricea's wrong expression

In the return from Buzău, the last time-out was reached, when George Buricea expressed himself wrongly and told the players that with a difference of minus 5 goals the team qualifies because it has more goals scored away. Handball people said he didn't know the qualification rules, but the coach told GSP it was just a misstatement.

“My expression was wrong. The federal coach, Răzvan Udriștoiu, also told us at halftime that if the game ends with minus 5 goals, there will be throws from 7 meters. I wanted to tell them not to lose the ball, not to give them a chance to attack and to throw in the last seconds. The players knew, maybe that's why they didn't even correct me, the tension being very high. The problems of Romanian handball are much, much bigger”, said George Buricea for GSP.

Variants of damage to goalkeepers

Buricea was criticized for not summoning experienced goalkeepers such as Darius Makaria (Minaur) or Vasile Tcaciuc (HC Buzău), at the expense of the young Denis Ștefan. The selector said that on the list of 35 players sent to the EHF in February, Romania had 5 goalkeepers, 3 with experience, Iancu, Vasile and Rusu, but also two future youngsters, Haidu and Ștefan.

For the match in Buzău, Ionuț Iancu and Dan Vasile were injured, and Cătălin Haidu could not honor the summons, due to some school exams, he being settled in Germany. And for these reasons, Romania's goal was defended by Vlăduț Rusu and Denis Ștefan.

GSP sources revealed that after the qualifier lost to Turkey, George Buricea told the players in the locker room that: “I'm sorry for what happened, we had two good years together and it's not right what happened in the end.”

What is there to do?

By defeating Turkey, handball people must understand that they are part of a wrong and outdated system and that it is not only the coach or people in the federation who are to blame. Everyone has to accept defeat with Turkey, but of course you have to understand what acceptance means.

Men's handball in Romania is very far and very different from what is played in the final tournaments.

Only if we think about the speed of execution and the unforced mistakes, we should be realistic and understand that men's handball in Romania is hard to watch and everything starts from the bottom, from the way of training the children who come to handball and from whom we then have claims to beat Turkey in a few years.

First of all, we need a national plan for the recovery of men's handball, because otherwise we will only be left with the slogan, “Handball, national sport!”.

You still need patience, consistency and you have to let go of money for children and juniors.

How many clubs follow the rule with the amount of 30% of the budget, which must be allocated only for children and juniors?

That's what the people from Hungary, Poland and Slovenia did, and they certainly didn't regret it.

We do not go further in Germany, Fantasia or Denmark, because there is no point.

In new times, too?

Romanian handball is badly organized and managed, money and results are stolen in Romanian handball. If the people in the system lie a lot more, only they and their shadows will be left in the matches.

We will see many of them in the elections on April 24, where they will shout “We want change!”, but the change must start with them.

Many have had to retire for some time, but, having “debt in the system”, it calls on them when needed. Some more often, others every 4 years.

They all say they want the good of handball, but it seems none have put their own good first.

All of them are good from the sidelines, but when they were at the “buttons” they failed miserably, in contradiction to the size of the accounts.

The important thing is that their desire remained, even if for some the mirror has become cloudy and they no longer know their limits.