Mircea Lucescu, 80 years old, appeared extremely disappointed at the press conference, after Turkey – Romania 1-0a result synonymous with the end of the American dream for the “tricolor”.
The only success of the game belonged to Ferdi Kadioglu, the full-back of Brighton, who, alone with Ionuț Radu, after a brilliant pass by Arda Guler, completed the goal simply, from six meters. Our biggest chance came in the 78th minute, when Nicolae Stanciu rattled Cakir's right bar, after a misunderstanding between Montella's defenders.
“Il Luce” considers the match as a balanced one, with Turkey striking decisively on the only important scoring chance. Their success is blamed on Andrei Rațiu, accusing a positioning mistake. He also discussed the systematic problems in Romanian football, the evolution of the country where he coached in the early 2000s, but also the importance of former Romanian players in the development of the “king sport” in the region.
Mircea Lucescu: “Lui Rațiu was afraid of being dribbled”
“You saw Hakan, not Demiral and the others. All, with tremendous gratitude. They hugged me both before and after the game.
I left traces there, I rejuvenated the team. That was a big satisfaction for me, and I hope that other players of ours, in this short time spent with me, can say the same. They will learn and make careers, I'm sure,” said “Il Luce” at the start of the press conference, confessing himself moved by the gratitude shown to him by the Turkish players this evening.
The hug between Lucescu and Montella / PHOTO: Cristi Preda (GSP)
“Turkey is a very good team, a team with tremendous potential. I like Montella a lot, I know what potential he has. I see them qualified for the final tournament, they are valuable players.
The match was very balanced. If Rațiu did not make that mistake, he was afraid of being dribbled. Otherwise, apart from one shot on goal, they had none. We know very well that the Turkish team is at a higher level than the Romanian one”, added the Romanian coach.
Later, he highlighted, again, Rațiu's error, saying that, grosso modo, the match was a balanced one.
“Rațiu met an extraordinary player, Yildiz is one of the best players in the Italian league. At that time, he was not paying attention. The goal phase no longer matters! He hesitated, he knew very well what he had to do, he hesitated, the other took his face and they scored.
I repeat, the match was balanced, we had a bar, they had a shot, we had a good phase with Hagiwho, if he shot, instead of trying to put the ball wide for a corner, we might have managed to score. We were reluctant to come out of defence, especially in the first half. In the second, things changed, when we had to recover. I can say that they dominated us, but not categorically.
I feel sorry for the boys, they prepared very well for this matchthey didn't have much time to train together. Burcă and Drăgușin have not seen each other for a year or so. We had a lot of talks before the game and they responded really well. I'm sorry for the boys that they didn't manage to get this qualification,” added “Il Luce”.
Mircea Lucescu, at the press conference // photo: Ionuț Iordache (GSP)
Many mistakes were made in Romanian football. The players are no longer preparing at the same level. In Turkey, young players have grown. From this point of view, Turkish football is going through a favorable moment, compared to the Romanian one. We take players at 300-400,000, they take players at 70 million. Hagi, Popescu, Adrian Ilie contributed to the growth of Turkish football.
– Mircea Lucescu, Romania selector
