Romania plan another surprise

Positive
"We have a chance at EURO 2008™," declared left-back Răzvan Raţ, while the captain, Cristian Chivu, promised: "We will fight for glory, respect and for the fans. We want the fans to be proud of us. Our national team is about character." Romania's form since qualifying has been mixed, their 1-0 February defeat in Israel followed by a 3-0 win against a depleted Russia side last month, but coach Piţurcă already seems pretty sure of his selection. "I will mainly pick players who did the hard work and helped us to qualify. There cannot be any surprises," said Piţurcă, whose side will take on Montenegro on 31 May before travelling to Switzerland.

Second chance
This tournament represents unfinished business for Piţurcă , who coached Romania in their successful UEFA EURO 2000™ qualifying campaign only to be sacked before the finals. Having returned to the helm in 2004, he is now preparing for the showpiece in Austria and Switzerland and can still call on five of the players who helped him in his previous qualifying success: Chivu, Cosmin Contra, Bogdan Lobonţ, Adrian Mutu and Florentin Petre. Piţurcă knows this old guard well, having handed debuts to all except Contra. Another player he introduced to the international set-up, Laurenţiu Roşu, might have also figured had it not been for injury.

Piţurcă's men
Since returning to the helm, Piţurcă has blooded another group of players who have become squad regulars - goalkeepers Dănuţ Coman and Marius Popa, defenders George Ogăraru, Dorin Goian and Ştefan Radu, and midfielders, Bănel Nicoliţă and Răzvan Cociş. The coach knows his squad well and other than Marius Niculae, recalled against Russia after his fine form for Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC in Scotland, he is unlikely to add any new names to the group that qualified for the finals as Group G winners ahead of the Netherlands, after recording nine victories and just one defeat in 12 matches.

Azzurri anniversary
As Romania look ahead to the EURO, their fans may draw encouragement from looking back exactly 25 years to 16 April 1983 when the national team defeated Italy for the only time in a competitive match in a 1984 UEFA European Championship qualifier. Then as now Italy were FIFA World Cup holders but Romania, who had already drawn in Florence, earned a 1-0 victory in Bucharest via Laszlo Bölöni's goal and went on to reach the finals in France. More recent matches offer less cause for confidence: a 2-0 reverse in the UEFA EURO 2000™ quarter-finals and 3-0 and 2-0 losses in 2002 World Cup qualifying. Add a 1-0 friendly defeat in Italy in 2003 and Romania's overall record against their second EURO opponents reads: Played 14, Won 2, Drawn 2, Lost 10.