Sabau resigns from Timisoara

Ioan Ovidiu Sabau resigned from his position as coach of FC Timisoara, Gazeta Sporturilor reported today (Weds).

Sabau refused to give any explanation for his reasons, saying only that financer Marian Iancu accepted his resignation.

Sabau, 42, came to train Timisoara in June last year.

FC Timisoara finished only 5th in the local Liga I.

Romania will reach Euro 2012, says coach

 

Romania's national football team will qualify at the European Championship in 2012, coach Razvan Lucescu said today (Mon).

Lucescu said he was "convinced" Romania would play for the Euro 2012.

Romania failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup, in Group 7, where it played against France, Serbia, Austria and Faroes Islands.

He also said Cristian Chivu is the symbol of the Romanian national team, referring to the fact that Chivu won on Saturday the Champions League final, as he played until minute 68 for his team Inter Milan.

The team is preparing for three friendly matches scheduled for May and June.

Boloni wanted at FC Porto

Romanian coach Laszlo Boloni is wanted by former Champions League winner, FC Porto, according to the Portuguese press.



Boloni, 57, is wanted to replace current coach Jesualdo Ferreira, who ends his contract this summer.

Boloni trained Standard Liege until recently and he is well known in Portugal for his succes with Sporting Lisbon.

Boloni is the coach who discovered and encouraged Cristiano Ronaldo, while he was playing at Sporting Lisbon (2001-2003).

Lazio Rome player ditched from national team

Lazio Rome player, Romanian Radu Stefan, has been ditched from the national team for not answering phone calls from team coach Razvan Lucescu.



Speaking on Thursday Romanian Football Federation manager Ionut Lupescu said: "Radu Stefan hasn't been answering the phone for three months. It is a problem of attitude on his part. If he doesn't answer the phone, I don't understand how can he be called in to the national team."

Romania meets Ukraine on 29 May, Macedonia on 2 June and Honduras on 5 June in friendly matches.

Lucescu criticises Mourinho for defensive play

Romanian football coach Mircea Lucescu has criticised Inter-Milan coach Jose Mourinho, who has taken Inter into the finals of the Champions League.



Lucescu said, as quoted on the website of his team Shakhtar Donetsk: "It is really a shame for a world-class team to stay on defence instead of attacking. I do not like such football. It is a pity that such teams can advance, unlike those who play spectacular football."

Lucescu, 64, was ranked as the fifth best coach in 2009 by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS).

Lucescu won the UEFA Cup with his team FC Shakhtar Donetsk, but it was then eliminated from Europa League play.

Andone resigns as coach of CSKA Sofia

Romanian coach Ioan Andone has ended collaboration with Bulgarian team CSKA Sofia after two and a half months, the Bulgarian media reported yesterday (Tues).


Andone, 49, had signed a year-and-a-half contract. He has coached United Arab Emirates champion Al Ahli, Dinamo Bucharest and CFR Cluj.

According to sportal.bg, club president Dimitar Borissov said a new head coach would not be appointed and Andone's assistant, Adalbert Zafirov, would be interim coach of the team.

He is the new coach of Rapid Bucharest, GSPTV announced yesterday (Weds).

Andone will coach Rapid until summer and continue on as its coach for three more years.

He is Rapid's third coach this year after Viorel Hizo and Nicolae Manea.

Craiova defeat Rapid Bucuresti 1-0 added time!

U Craiova won 1-0 yesterday (Sat.) in Bucharest thanks to a goal from Constantin Gangioveanu, who is a very technical player. He scored a formidable goal in the second minute of stoppage time (92nd minute), it was a diagonal from nearly outside the box and it passed through a Rapid defender's legs and into the back of the net!

I thought we were going to tie, which isn't bad against Rapid, especially since we were playing away, but we managed to get the full 3 points here! We are now in 12th place, we started the season off very bad but now it looks like the new Dutch coach, Mark Wotte (who coached the Dutch National Team for several years), has cleaned up some of our problems and doing a better job than our previous Italian manager. I hope we continue all these wins we're getting and hopefully clinch a Europa League spot!! :-)

We also didn't have Florin Costea for two matches, so that's a big blow... he will be out for the rest of the season.

Constantin Gangioveanu's goal:

Razvan Lucescu calls up 23 players for the friendly against Israel

                                 
With Cristian Chivu, Razvan Rat and Stefan Radu out injured, Razvan Lucescu offered Gabriel Tamas (transferred in January to West Bromwich Albion) the chance to reclaim his spot in the team. Another surprise is the absence of the first two choices for the goalkeeper postion, Lobont and Coman, but, looking at the likes of Gaman, Sepsi, Florescu or Deac, it's obvious that the National Team coach is trying to evaluate some of the promising, yet established players in the first division. Here's is the full list of players:

Goalkeepers: Mircea Bornescu (Rapid, 29), Costel Pantilimon (FC Timisoara, 23)

Defenders: Cristian Panin (CFR Cluj, 31), Vasile Maftei (Unirea Urziceni, 29), Gabriel Tamas (WBA, 26), Dorin Goian (Palermo, 29), Mirel Radoi (Al-Hilal, 28), Valerica Gaman (Universitatea Craiova, 21), Laszlo Sepsi (FC Timisoara, 23), Mihai Nesu (FC Utrecht, 27)

Midfielders: Banel Nicolita (Steaua, 25), Mihai Roman (FC Brasov, 25), Iulian Apostol (Unirea Urziceni, 29), Paul Codrea (Siena, 28), Tiberiu Ghioane (Dynamo Kiew, 28), George Florescu (FC Midjtyland, 25), Ciprian Deac (CFR Cluj, 24)

Forwards: Gigel Bucur (Kuban, 29), Andrei Cristea (Dinamo Bucharest, 25), Ciprian Marica (VFB Stuttgart, 24), Daniel Niculae (Auxerre, 27), Marius Niculae (Dinamo Bucharest, 28).

More details

Boloni resigns as Standard Liege coach

 

Romanian Laszlo Boloni has resigned as coach of Belgian team Standard Liege, the club officially announced yesterday (Weds).

His team won the Belgian national championship last year, but has had very disappointing results this year, as it is currently sixth in the top league.

The team is also out of Champions League play and faces Europa League matches.

Boloni, 56, had been coaching Liege since 2008.

Boloni has coached Sporting Lisbon and Al-Jazeera in the United Arab Emirates.
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Boloni was one of our top 5 or 6 all-time best players (Romanian national team) scoring 25 goals for Romania in 108 appearances. He also won the UEFA Champions League and European Super Cup with Steaua Bucuresti in 1985-1986. He did very well with Standard last year in the Belgian league and deserves an applaud as a manager as well. 

Congratulations to Lazlo Boloni for a great football career!