Article by Sergiu Alexandru – Published Wednesday, March 25, 2026, 10:28 / Updated Wednesday, March 25, 2026 10:30
Romania is going to Turkey with the idea of qualifying for the 2026 World Championship, but it has a big problem. In the preliminaries, the “tricolors” did not really have a mouth of fire in attack.
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Turkey – Romania will be played on March 26, from 19:00, match broadcast by Prima TV. If we win, we play the World Cup qualification final against Slovakia/Kosovo on March 31, 2026.
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Gazeta Sporturilor has 6 experienced reporters in Istanbul, who deliver the most important information, reports and a series of multimedia correspondence.
With one day left until Thursday's match, Romania's starting team is penciled in quite large proportions, the only question mark being the goalkeeper position, everything to be decided after the arrival of Ionuț Radu in the country. As for the national team's offensive, things are quite clear, and behind Daniel Bîrligea, who has no real competitor for the position, will be Dennis Man, Ianis Hagi and Valentin Mihăilă.
Who scored for Romania in the WC 2026 preliminaries:
In the WC 2026 preliminaries, none of the players present scored more than two goals. Those who reached this milestone are Florin Tănase, Ianis Hagi, Dennis Man and Denis Drăguș. Of these, only the last one is not in the batch.
In addition to them, there are 5 other scorers in the preliminaries in the group for the WC draw: Răzvan Marin, Virgil Ghiță, Daniel Bîrligea, Ștefan Baiaram and Andrei Rațiu.
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Romania – Bosnia 0-1
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San Marino – Romania 1-5 (Cevoli – own goal, M. Popescu, R. Marin, Hagi, Alibec)
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Austria – Romania 2-1 (F. Tanase)
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Romania – Cyprus 2-0 (F. Tanase, D. Man)
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Cyprus – Romania 2-2 (Drăguș x2)
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Romania – Austria 1-0 (V. Ghita)
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Bosnia – Romania 3-1 (Bîrligea)
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Romania – San Marino 7-1 (Rossi – own goal, Baiaram, Man, Valentini – own goal, Hagi, Rațiu, L. Munte
Among the “tricolors”, Daniel Bîrligea has the best numbers in 2026
The four will be the men the staff and fans will pin their hopes on to break through the Turkish defense and score, but their numbers in 2026 are not the best. In addition, they failed to impress even in the World Cup qualifiers.
Among the attackers, in 2026, Daniel Bîrligea has the best figures. He scored 6 goals in 13 games, while Dennis Man has 5 goals in 14 games, and Mihăilă scored 4 times in 11 games played this year. At the opposite pole, among the attackers called by Lucescu, is Claudiu Petrila.
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played |
Goals / Matches in 2026 |
Goals / Matches all season |
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Daniel Birligea |
6/13 |
13/37 |
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Dennis Man |
5/14 |
10/32 |
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Valentin Mihaila |
4/11 |
6/19 |
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Marius Coman |
4/10 |
8/24 |
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Alexandru Dobre |
4/12 |
17/35 |
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Ianis Hagi |
3/11 |
5/25 |
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David Miculescu |
3/14 |
9/43 |
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Stefan Baiaram |
2/10 |
12/42 |
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Claudio Petrila |
1/12 |
5/32 |
The batch moved from Romania to Istanbul
- GOALKEEPERI: Ionuț RADU (Celta Vigo, 7/0), Laurentiu POPESCU (Universitatea Craiova, 0/0), Marian AIOANI (FC Rapid 1923, 0/0), Cătălin CĂBUZ (FC Argeș, 0/0);
- DEFENDERS: Andrei RAțIU (Rayo Vallecano | Spain, 36/2), Deian SORESCU (Gaziantep FK | Turkey, 23/0), Radu DRĂGUȘIN (Tottenham | England, 27/1), Andrei BURCĂ (Yunnan Yukun | China, 44/1), Virgil GHIțĂ (Hannover 96 | Germany, 8/1), Adrian RUS (Universitatea Craiova, 22/1), Andrei COUBIȘ (Universitatea Cluj, 0/0), Nicușor BANCU (Universitatea Craiova, 50/2), Kevin CIUBOTARU (Hermannstadt, 1/0);
- INTERMEDIARIES: Vladimir SCRECIU (Universitatea Craiova, 6/0), Vlad DRAGOMIR (Pafos | Cyprus, 5/0), Răzvan MARIN (AEK Athens | Greece, 72/12), Nicolae STANCIU (Dalian Yingbo | China, 84/15), Florin TĂNASE (FCSB, 26/5), Ianis HAGI (Alanyaspor | Turkey, 51/8), Dennis MAN (PSV | Netherlands, 43/11), Alexandru DOBRE (FC Rapid 1923, 5/0), Valentin MIHĂILĂ (Caykur Rizespor | Turkey, 33/5), Claudiu PETRILA (FC Rapid 1923, 2/0), Ștefan BAIARAM (Universitatea Craiova, 2/1);
- ATTACKERS: Daniel BÎRLIGEA (FCSB, 7/2), David MICULESCU (FCSB, 6/0), Marius COMAN (UTA Arad, 0/0).
