Article by Marius Mărgărit – Published on Thursday, 26 March 2026, 22:29 / Updated on Thursday, 26 March 2026 22:31
The record holder of selections from the Romanian national team (134 games), Dorinel Munteanu (57 years old), also watched Romania's game with Turkey with hope, and at the end he wanted to point out that “we have nothing to complain about the defense, but with such an offensive game, we couldn't hope for too much!”.
Hermannstadt's coach says that “I didn't understand why we were so scared of Turkey for nothing. Why did I let them pass for so long?! It was seen, whenever we tried a bit more in attack, they seriously faltered. It was a game where you didn't have a second chance!”.
Dorinel Munteanu // photo: Imago
Dorinel Munteanu: “We were scared of Turkey for nothing!”
“Why not have more courage?! Well, even so, weak offensively as we played, we had bigger opportunities than them. Stanciu's bar, Hagi's shots. Their bar was just that, a ball that fell off the crossbar. For us, the ball went in front of the goal.
But that phase came when Rațiu did not collect as he should, he did not close that corridor, although it was clear where Arda would care. And look, this is how the history of a match was written, from an error. And again we lose the qualification, i.e. the chance to reach the play-off final, to fight for the World Cup!”.
“Four changes should have been made at halftime! What are we waiting for?!”
“The German” confesses that “I'm disappointed, because I had other expectations. We also didn't attack positionally, we didn't hold on to the ball. We were scared for nothing by them, by the atmosphere. What an atmosphere, that it was nothing! To top it off, we had opportunities, but only at moments, we didn't have continuity.
And the changes should have come sooner, maybe even before their goal. Four changes should have been made since the break, to give the team a boost! What are we waiting for?! It was only one game. We had to score!
Now we're going to regret not trying harder. But it's too late! The bottom line is that we showed too little and didn't deserve to go further in this tie!”
Referring to the replacement of the selector Mircea Lucescu with Gică Hagi, Dorinel Munteanu also said that “honestly, now I don't even know what could change too much. And if Gică comes, he will work with these players. Let's hope that he will be able to bring a little more courage to the national team! I don't understand this fear with which they played!”
