LIVE Romania – Wales, the second friendly with Hagi on the bench

UPDATE | Both teams will have 10 changes, just like in the friendly with Georgia

FRF announced that the two teams will be allowed to make 10 changes.

“Latest ahead before Romania v Wales, 20:45:

• Within the limit of available seats, the ticket offices at the Steaua stadium are open from lunchtime;

• The gates of the Arena Fanilor open starting at 17:45;

• Almost 1,500 Welsh fans are also expected at the game;

• As in the previous training match, our national team can make up to 10 substitutions tonight, in a maximum of three stoppages of the game;

• The match will be shown on Prima TV and can be heard live on Radio Romania Actualității”, was the statement from FRF.

UPDATE | The lot chosen by Gică Hagi for Romania – Wales

Gică Hagi decided before the match at the Steaua stadium to send home 7 footballers, who have already gone on vacation: Florin Tănase, Radu Drăgușin, Răzvan Marin, Ianis Hagi, Virgil Ghiță, Valentin Mihăilă and Alexandru Cicâldău.

1. Stefan Târnovanu

2. Tony Strata

3. Mihai Popescu

4. Adrian Rus

5. Vladimir Screciu

6. Tudor Baluta

7. Florinel Coman

8. Darius Olaru

9. Denis Dragus

10. Nicholas Stanciu

11. Stefan Baiaram

12. Otto Hindrich

13. Matei Ilia

14. Alexandru Dobre

15. Andrei Burca

16. Marian Aioani

17. Lissav Elissat

18. David Matei

19. Louis Munteanu

20. Andrei Borza

21. Olimpiu Moruțan

22. Vlad Dragomir

23. Deian Sorescu

24. Andrei Coubis

25. Catalin Cîrjan

Romania – Wales, live from 20:45

Romania – Wales, likely teams:

Romania (4-2-3-1): Hindrich – Strata, M. Popescu, A. Burcă, L. Eissat – Stanciu, D. Matei – Dobre, Olaru, Baiaram – Drăguș
reserves: Târnovanu, Aioani – Sorescu, A. Rus, Coubiș, M. Ilie, Borza, Screciu, T. Băluță, N. Stanciu, Dragomir, Cîrjan, Moruțan, L. Munteanu, F. Coman;
coach: Gheorghe Hagi;

Wales: Darlow – C. Roberts, Rodon, B. Davies, N. Williams – Ampadu, Sheehan – B. Johnson, Brooks, Koumas – K. Moore;
reserves: D. Ward, T. King – Mepham, Beck, Lawlor, S. Thomas, Savage, O. Cooper, J. Davies, Colwill, D. James, I. Davies, Bostock, Congreve;
coach: Craig Bellamy;

Stadium: Steaua (Bucharest)
Referee: Rohit Saggi (Norway)
ASSISTANT: Anders Olav Dale and Alf Olav Rossland (Norway)

The new coach is preparing massive changes among the tricolors. In addition to Radu Drăgușin, Ianis Hagi, Virgil Ghiță, Răzvan Marin, Valentin Mihăilă and Alexandru Cicâldău, who left the team due to medical problems, the “King” will not be able to rely on Florin Tănase either.

The midfielder from FCSB complained of physical discomfort since the beginning of the training camp, and the national team staff did not manage to recover him even for the duel in Ghencea, after he missed the trip to Georgia, where Romania drew 1-1.

On the other hand, Craig Bellamy, a former striker at Newcastle, Liverpool and Manchester City, relies on players from the English leagues. No less than 12 of the 26 footballers called up have activated the recently concluded season with Premier League clubs, while the rest of the squad is made up of footballers who come from teams in the Championship and lower divisions.

What Hagi and Bellamy said before the match

We will play with another, totally new team. Those who played less in Georgia will also be. We released a group of players who played more. We had 3 players who are not 100 percent, we stopped the ones who are.

Sorry for those who were here and didn't play, we have to adjust. There are many matches in Ghencea, both at the club and at the national team, many victories, we hope there will be tomorrow as well. Much happiness, starting from '90, when we qualified with Denmark. That's when the great success began, I'm glad.

At the national team we have to be pragmatic, produce results, results produce confidence
– Gheorghe Hagi, Romania selector

Romania has a new coach, so we had to look back at many of Hagi's matches from the club teams he coached. It will be interesting to see how they approach the game and again we have to be able to adapt.

It's a team that was in Bosnia's group, so we had the opportunity to see a lot of Romania's matches. I have seen very good things about them, but also some not so good ones. But it is an important test, because we go there with the intention of winning the match.

We have to go to places like that and that's a different challenge in itself, one that I'm looking forward to.
– Craig Bellamy, Wales manager

Romania – Wales, pre-match statistics

• The match in Cardiff, played on November 17, 1993, remains one of the reference moments in the history of the Romanian national team. The “Tricolori”, with Gheorghe Hagi as the leader of the generation, needed a positive result at the Arms Park to qualify for the 1994 World Championship.

• Hagi opened the scoring with a spectacular long-range shot, but Wales equalized through Dean Saunders and had a chance to turn the game around in the 63rd minute when Paul Bodin fired wide from the penalty spot.

• Romania took advantage of the moment, and Florin Răducioiu scored the winning goal at the end of the match, making the score 2-1. The national team thus reached the final tournament in the United States, where they would achieve the greatest performance in history: the quarterfinals.

• By the memorable evening in Cardiff, Romania and Wales had already built a history of head-to-head duels. The first meetings came in the EURO 1972 preliminaries, when the two national teams drew goalless in 1970, in Wales, before the “tricolors” prevailed a year later, in Bucharest, score 2-0. The Welsh scored the clearest victory in direct confrontations in 1983, in a friendly won 5-0, but Romania got their revenge in the preliminaries for the World Cup in 1994, when Hagi's generation put on a show and won by the same margin, 5-1, on home soil.

5confrontations have been, so far, between Romania and Wales at the first representative level. The balance is favorable to the tricolors: 3 wins, a draw, a win for the “red dragons”. Goal difference: 9-7 for Romania.