Return to the Romanian bench after 38 years with a victory for Mircea Lucescu

It was the distant 1986 when o Mircea Lucescu was moving away from her bench National of Romania due to the team’s failure to qualify for the World Cup of Mexico.

Now, in 2024, the experienced manager has taken on the difficult task of returning his country to the final stage of the World Cup since 1998 and the first sample has been excellent.

Romania easily defeated away from home Kosovo with 3-0 for the first matchday of the 2nd Group of League C of the Nations League, for which Cyprus had earlier defeated Lithuania.

The Parma midfielder opened the scoring in the 40th minute. Dennis Mannwhile 11 minutes later he doubled the goals for Romania Razvan Marin with a well-timed penalty kick. The final score was made by Dennis Dragus in the 82nd minute. Kosovo finished the game with 10 men after Vojvoda was sent off with a second yellow card in the 85th minute.

The next opponent for Mircea Lucescu’s team is Lithuaniawhile Kosovo will face Cyprus.

The results of the first match of the 3rd Group:

• Lithuania-Cyprus 0-1 (Pittas 34′)

• Kosovo – Romania 0-3 (Mann 40′, Marin 51′, Dragus 82′)

The next (2nd) matchday:

• Cyprus-Kosovo (09/09, 21:45)

• Romania-Lithuania (09/09, 21:45)

The Group’s standings after 1 matchday:

1. Romania 3 (3-0)

2. Cyprus 3 (1-0)

3. Lithuania 0 (0-1)

4. Kosovo 0 (0-3)