Article by Maria Olteanu – Published Wednesday, March 25, 2026 7:33 p.m. / Updated Thursday, March 26, 2026 5:35 a.m.
Mihai Stoichiță, the technical director of the Romanian Football Federation, is extremely optimistic about 24 hours before the most anticipated match of this beginning of the year, the Turkey-Romania tie, the penultimate step on the way to the North American World Cup in the summer.
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Turkey – Romania will be played on Thursday, March 26, from 19:00, match broadcast by Prima TV. If we win, we play the qualification final against Slovakia/Kosovo on March 31, 2026.
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Stoichiță analyzed the situation even during the official training carried out by Lucescu's “tricolors” at the Beşiktaş stadium and is convinced that at the time of the match all the players will give absolutely everything for victory, aware that they did not come to Istanbul just to show their presence.
“We have come to win this match,” said the FRF official with determination, who, in his speech, also slipped in a question whose answer we will find out at the end of Thursday night's clash: “Do you realize what would happen if these guys won here tomorrow?”.
The last message from the FRF, before the showdown with Turkey: “Why did we come here, let's walk around?”
“I can say what I saw in training, everything was OK until now. Now let's also see the answer to the question we all ask ourselves with Radu. And then we will know all the elements we can rely on tomorrow.
I, to be honest, have a pre-competition emotional state, but not extraordinarily much. I have great faith in them.
Why did we come here, to walk around? We came to win this match! We try to win, to play well, to make a whole people happy.
Do you realize what would happen if these guys won here tomorrow? Against all the predictions that are made by some and others, more valuable individually, I don't know if the team is more valuable, we will find out tomorrow at the end of the match”said Mihai Stoichiță, quoted by as.ro.
The match is played tomorrow, until then we don't know which team will enter the field. No matter who will play there, our players have the value to be able to dominate their direct opponents. I am convinced of this, we will see tomorrow.
We don't discuss before the game what might happen. A coach leads his team from behind the group. It will be written further, but the teams that enter the field tomorrow will decide the final result
– Mircea Lucescu, Romania selector
