Rocky road for Romania

A brief history of recent Romanian history: four coaches, three defeats by Italy, two missed chances in the FIFA World Cup play-offs and one man.

Hagi involvement
Gheorghe Hagi, the 'Maradona of the Carpathians' has been everywhere and almost everything to Romanian football. Firstly, he came out of his international retirement for one match, then - persuaded to stay on - he inspired his team to the EURO 2000™ finals where he finished his international playing career with a red card. Returning home he had a statue commissioned in his honour then he was back in the limelight again, this time as Romania's fourth coach in as many years, finally falling on his sword after his team's failure to reach the 2002 World Cup finals.

Munteanu leaves it late 
It had all looked so different for Romania - under Hagi's old goalscoring rival Victor Piturca - as qualification for EURO 2000™ got under way. Group Seven was always going to be a two-horse race between Romania and Portugal and, in the end, the key to Romania's unbeaten run to the finals was an early 1-0 win in Lisbon when, after surviving unrelenting pressure from the Portuguese, the ten men of Romania broke away to score through Dorinel Munteanu in stoppage time.

Disappointing draws
However, it was not all plain sailing for Piturca and after disappointing draws in Hungary (1-1) and against Slovakia (0-0) then an unconvincing 1-0 win in Azerbaijan, pressure began to grow on the coach. Enter Hagi the player and a first-ever win over their historic rivals Hungary (2-0) was followed up by big wins against Azerbaijan (4-0) and in Slovakia (5-1). A 1-1 draw in Bucharest against Portugal just about sealed their qualification, which was confirmed with a 3-0 win in Liechtenstein (following up their 7-0 win in Bucharest at the start of the campaign).

Youthful endeavour 
Rumblings behind the scenes and rumours of player power then saw the Romanians looking for a new coach after Piturca decided to step down from his post and the team went into the finals under their former coach Emeric Ienei. Drawn in the same group as Germany, England and Portugal not everyone gave them much chance of progressing. However, Ienei - having added the youthful endeavour of players like Cristian Chivu, Adrian Mutu and Cosmin Contra to the wiles of the old campaigner Hagi - produced a team capable of doing more than just notching up their first-ever victory in the finals of a UEFA European Championship.

Leads squandered 
They kicked off the tournament against Germany and with Hagi controlling the game they looked in imposing form, taking an early lead through Viorel Moldovan. A second seemed inevitable but Germany, however, managed to grab an equaliser. Then, against Portugal, Hagi was again influential but, sadly for the Romanians, just when it looked like ending in an uninspired goalless draw the Portuguese grabbed a last-minute winner.

Ganea glory
If the Romanians were upset by that last-gasp winner they were in ecstasy after their final group match against England when, without the suspended Hagi, they came from 2-1 down to win with a last-minute penalty from Ionel Ganea. The quarter-final against Italy was something of an anti-climax after that. Hagi was back but failed to ignite the team. Indeed his team was already 2-0 down when he was booked twice in six minutes, the second one - for diving - seeing him receive his final marching orders.

Optimistic mood
Despite their limp exit from EURO 2000™ they had done enough to suggest that even without the talismanic Hagi they could still remain among Europe's elite and they started their qualifying campaign for the World Cup 2002 - now under another coach, Ladislau Bölöni - in optimistic mood.

Well beaten
Italy - their nemesis in EURO 2000™ - were also drawn in Group Eight and the two qualifying matches against them were the key to the group. Unfortunately for Romania they were again well beaten in both matches, 3-0 in Milan and 2-0 in Bucharest.

Bölöni departure
A play-off place was, however, theirs for the taking and Romania duly delivered with wins against Lithuania (1-0 at home, 2-1 away) and Hungary (2-0 in both games) plus a win (2-0 away) and a draw (1-1 at home) against Georgia. Bölöni had departed the scene by this time - lured away by Sporting Clube de Portugal after just 13 games in charge - and with Hagi now at the helm the Romanians were brimming with confidence as they took on Slovenia in the play-offs.

Unexpected defeat
Too confident perhaps. Romania completely dominated the first leg in Ljubljana, deservedly taking the lead after 26 minutes through Marius Niculae. However, just before half-time and with virtually their first real attack Slovenia equalised. The second half followed the same pattern but the profligate Romanians were unable to convert any of their chances and instead it was the Slovenians who grabbed an unexpected winner.

Chance gone
Even at 2-1 down Hagi was confident his charges could turn it around in the second leg but it was not to be. Once again Romania pressed hard but, against the run of play, Slovenia scored in the 56th minute and although Contra scored for Romania they could not manage another and the chance of World Cup glory was gone.

Iordanescu lined up
So too, soon after, was Hagi. After just five matches in charge and piqued by what he saw as a lack of support from above he resigned. Another former Romania coach, Anghel Iordanescu, has been lined up to take over the world's 15th ranked team.