So the draw for the UEFA Cup group stage has recently been confirmed, and tournament favourites Bayern Munich have landed one of the more challenging tests – however, will be fairly confident of securing the points to get them through in the top 3. The strongest group on paper is arguably C, with Villareal and AEK both with recent Champions League experience, and Fiorentina experiencing something of a renaissance in Serie A. So it’s prediction time I guess – do you agree with me though?

Group A

Four out of the five teams in group A have a realistic shout of going through. AZ Alkmaar are obvious favourites, due to their UEFA Cup pedigree – semi finalists just 2 years ago. The Dutch side have proved difficult to beat in Europe and Louis Van Gaal will be confident of progression. Zenit St. Petersburg have been sharp improvers over the last couple of seasons though, and will pose a daunting task to overcome on their own patch. I’m sure many UEFA Cup enthusiasts will remember the mud-bath of a game against Sevilla in 2005, which was convincingly won by the Spaniards. Everton and Nurnberg will also be in the mix for qualification. David Moyes’ side were fairly uncomfortable against Metalist Kharkiv in the first round, riding their luck at times, but should improve. Nurnberg are unfancied due to their poor Bundesliga form. Larissa make up the numbers.

1. AZ
2. Zenit
3. Everton

Group B

As to who’ll top this one is hard to call. Between Lokomotiv Moscow, Panathinaikos and Atletico Madrid there’s not much to choose. Panathinaikos and in particular, Lokomotiv, are not the best of travellers and that should point to advantage Madrid. I would still back the Greeks though, on the basis of their long European experience. Perhaps they have been relegated to 3rd best in Greece now, but should still have the know-how to guarantee qualification. Atletico have plenty of exciting players, Simao, Maniche, Reyes, Forlan and Antonio Lopez to name but a few – It’s whether the combination is able to gel though. Copenhagen have already proved their credentials in getting a result out of Man Utd last season; they could prove a surprise force. Aberdeen have done well in an encouraging European campaign in general for Scottish football, but know its an uphill struggle from here on in.

1. Panathinaikos
2. Atletico Madrid
3. Lokomotiv Moscow

Group C

As mentioned previously, this is a strong selection of teams. Villareal have started brightly in the domestic form of the game, and their tough defense and neat possession football should serve them well. Fiorentina are slowly emerging as a formidable force in Serie A once again – though this could possibly prove to be more of a hindrance if they begin to value the domestic campaign over the UEFA Cup as many Italian sides do. AEK have Champions League experience, though preference goes to Mlada Boleslav to grab the remaining qualifying spot. They have proved a dark-horse in UEFA cup matches of the past and have proved to difficult to break down. Elfsborg have no chance.

1. Villareal
2. Fiorentina
3. Mlada Boleslav

Group D

Even though Basel are the top seeds, Hamburg are the force to be reckoned with here. Van der Vaart and Jarolim are the creative heartbeat of a side who has forgotten all about the traumatic experience of last season. Basel still retain some quality though, and will be treated with respect. Rennes and Dinamo Zagreb will battle for the remaining spot – the French side did well to finish 4th in the 2006/7 season but may upstaged by the Croatian side boasting former Aston Villa ‘legend’ Bosko Balaban.

1. Hamburg
2. Basel
3. Dinamo Zagreb

Group E

This could be a tight contest – all five teams have at least a glimmer of a chance of qualifying. Leverkusen will be the favourites, and after a sluggish start to the domestic campaign initially struggling for goals, have warmed to the task. Theofanis Gekas will be a forward to be feared. Spartak Moscow were slightly unlucky to be dumped out of the Champions League at the hands of Celtic – though are handed a massive advantage at home with their synthetic pitch. Toulouse may have got a little bit of a hammering by Liverpool recently, but in truth are a solid outfit and have some athletic players. I fancy the French side over Sparta Prague. Zurich also have an outside chance – though its an outside bet at best.

1. Leverkusen
2. Spartak Moscow
3. Toulouse

Group F

All eyes will be on the Bavarian giants, particularly given their scintilating start to the domestic season. Hitzfeld will be looking to get 2 early wins, to allow squad rotation for the final games in what could be a long season for his players. Bolton may be down the bottom of the Premiership at present, but will be all the better for their recent European experience and the UEFA cup could be a platform for Sammy Lee’s men to express themselves away from the intense pressure of the drop zone in England. Braga have been useful outfit in the UEFA Cup these last few years, and although most will say Red Star Belgrade are favourites, I’m sticking my neck out for Braga to pip them to 3rd.

1. Bayern Munich
2. Bolton
3. Braga

Group G

I really fancy Tottenham to dominate this group that’s not as tough as it could have been. Jol may be under fire at the minute – so will be looking at a cup run in Europe to ease the pressure. Anderlecht are top seeds due to their Champions League experience (perenial whipping boys more like), but such is the paucity of quality in Belgian football at the moment I don’t even expect them to qualify. Hapoel Tel Aviv will be looking to bag 6 points on their own ground at least, while Getafe are an improving side in Spain and have expressed no fear in facing Spurs. Aalborg secured their place with a surprise win over Sampdoria – surely that’s as far as it goes for the Dane’s though?

1. Tottenham
2. Hapoel Tel Aviv
3. Getafe

Group H

Bordeaux and Galatasaray are clear favourites over the remaining group of also-rans. Galatasaray’s fearsome home reputation may put them favourites, though there is little to choose between the French and the Turkish outfit. Austrian Vienna, Panionios and Helsingborgs are possibly not the strongest of tests – out of the three I’d tentatively pick the Greek side for 3rd place.

1. Galatasaray
2. Bordeaux
3. Panionios

Let us know your predictions in the comments below.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

If you bet on all the home bankers last weekend in the Bundesliga, there’s a good chance your pockets are now empty. Some real surprise results in Germany on the Saturday, again working in favour of a now buoyant Bayern Munich side. The Bavarian giants continue to be the imperious pace-setters, while the nearest contenders stutter to weaker opposition.

Despite Stuttgart’s poor start to the season, both domestically and in Europe, they have maintained an impressive record of 19 games unbeaten at home. This tally was brought to an end on Saturday by a useful Hannover outfit. Hardly brimming with confidence these last few weeks, things got worse only some 8 minutes into the game as skipper Fernando Meira was given his marching orders for a deliberate handball offence. Szabolcs Huszti slotted home the spot-kick to put ‘Die Roten’ in front, and the Hungarian effectively killed the game off in the second half with a header. Stuttgart couldn’t muster anything like a response, and top keeper Robert Enke had an easy time of it.

It just so happened that Schalke suffered the same fate at home, although this defeat may have been on the cards. Schalke have endured an inconsistent start to the season, whilst Karlsruher have shown excellent form on their return to the top tier of German football. A brace from forward Christian Timm gave Karlsruher a priceless 3 away points, and more importantly moved the club up to the lofty heights of 2nd in the table. Schalke are now 7 points behind league leaders Bayern; it seems they had their golden opportunity last year and it might be a while before they can mount a serious challenge again.

Cottbus have struggled this season for goals, largely the result of selling their strikeforce over the summer. The poor performances eventually did for manager Petrik Sander (despite the dreaded vote of confidence from the chairman), and Bojan Prasnikar has come in to replace him. The new coach then, will be fairly pleased with a goalless stalemate against Hertha Berlin, who are traditionally a force to be reckoned with at home in the 74,500 capacity Olympic Stadium.

Not all the favourites had slip-ups at the weekend though. Bayern enjoyed a regulation 3-0 victory against local rivals Nurnberg, whilst Bremen rounded out comfortable 3-1 winners away at Duisberg. Bremen have had an interesting week. Handing out an 8-1 pasting to Bielefeld last weekend, Werder collapsed to an embarrassing mid week Champions League defeat against Greek champions Olympiakos — a side who had never won an away game in the competition. The complete lack of effort must have been concerning for manager Thomas Schaaf, who will have been relieved by a return to winning ways against an unpredictable Duisberg team. Bayern continue to go from strength to strength this season, and Luca Toni’s couple of goals highlight why Lukas Podolski has to settle for a spot on the bench for the time being. Ze Roberto bagged the other goal.

Elsewhere, Hamburg continue to show decent progress — nothing like the shocking start to the season last year where they were bottom at Christmas. Led by lynchpins Van der Vaart and Jarolim in midfield, Hamburg possess both steel and creativity typified in their narrow 1-0 victory away to Arminia Bielefeld. Another defeat for ‘Die Arminen’ then, who will be pleased that a repeat of last Saturday’s horror show was avoided, but desperate to start picking up points again.

Former Bayern gaffer Felix Magath secured a maiden home win as manager of unfancied Wolfsburg, running up 1-0 victors against Hansa Rostock. It took a last gasp effort from Edin Dzeko to break the deadlock. Borussia Dortmund also secured 3 points in what has been an unpredictable start to the season from them. Its never an easy task to get anything at the Westfalenstadion, which Bochum found out to their cost with a narrow 2-1 defeat.

Finally, the clash on Sunday saw perennial under-achievers Eintracht Frankfurt take on the improving force of Leverkusen. Without Greek talisman striker, Theofanis Gekas, the away side lacked an obvious target and firepower, and eventually succumbed 2-1. A Greek did get on the score-sheet however, albeit for the opposition – Sotiris Kyrgiakos helped himself to a second-half double. Not all bad news for Leverkusen though, they did qualify through to the group stages of the UEFA Cup in the week.

Weekend Results:

Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Vfl Bochum
Arminia Bielefeld 0-1 Hamburg
Hertha BSC 0-0 Energie Cottbus
MSV Duisberg 1-3 Werder Bremen
Schalke 04 0-2 Karlsruher SC
Vfb Stuttgart 0-2 Hannover 96
Vfl Wolfsburg 1-0 Hansa Rostock
Bayern Munchen 3-0 Nurnberg
Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 Leverkusen

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

The Champions League has long reverted from being a competition for the ‘Champions’. From the top leagues across Europe, we are now used to seeing as many as four teams representing one nation.

The format has undoubtedly been successful. The Champions League is not only where the money is, but each evening of football provides the viewer with some of the highest quality entertainment — even outstripping the international game in terms of the level of ability on display. Gone are the days when we would see the likes of Skonto Riga as the whipping boys of the group. Nowadays each of the six initial games are closely fought affairs involving the best clubs around.

However, what has this meant for Europe’s secondary competition — the UEFA Cup?

12 years ago, the competition was taken by Bayern Munich in a 5-1 aggregate victory over Bordeaux. The names that graced the first round included the likes of Roma, Internazionale, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Barcelona, PSV Eindhoven, Lazio and Manchester United. If we care to look down the fixture list for the 2007/8 version and the only major European powerhouse we can see is Bayern. There are some names that have fallen from grace in recent years — Sampdoria and Fiorentina are prime examples, but generally, the sides are average at best.

The revision of Europe’s premier competition has left the UEFA Cup in tatters. Now we are beginning to ask the question as to whether continuing the trophy is necessary? Surely winning the UEFA Cup now is just a matter of saying you’re the best of an average, sub-standard bunch?

The Champions League can’t be held to account for all of the UEFA Cup’s woes however. Much of the blame has to be placed on the individuals who thought it would be a good idea making the format to the competition as ridiculously complicated as possible.

At present we have 2 preliminary ‘qualifying’ rounds, followed by a ’1st’ round, all two legged affairs. The next stage for the victorious sides is a place in a group of 5 clubs, where strangely each team only plays each other once and its left to chance as to who you’ll be facing home or away. The top 3 are able to qualify through the groups, where the knock-out stages begin again, although are mixed in with eight failures from the Champions League group stages.

Still following? After this, the competition reverts to some sort of normalacy with two-legged matches up to the final, whereupon the final becomes just the one-off extravaganza.

There many issues with how the UEFA Cup is currently run. Ok it is obvious it’s never going to retain the allure of the Champion’s League. So the idea is to at least make it as exciting as possible. What’s wrong with a series of one-off knockout ties up to the final? The group stage of the competition is just a joke.

Two homes and two aways seems fair on the surface, but anyone with even the tiniest bit of football knowledge knows that a trip to Kiev in the middle of winter is not as appealing as say an away game in France. Some teams are obviously going to get the short-straw.

Other problems include the ludicrous idea of adding Champions League rejects to the mix, about two-thirds of the way through the competition. Not only does this give off the image of second-class competition, but does seem a bit harsh on a club that has played in the UEFA Cup from the beginning and perhaps contended with as many as 11 games up to that point. The Champions League sides could scrape into the UEFA Cup with a meagre return of one win from their six matches.

The UEFA cup over the years has steadily become an after-thought in European week. Coupled with the awful format is the fact there are simply too many teams in it. Consequently, we will definitely have Groclin or Crvena Zvezda going through to the group stages. Who, if you do pardon my ignorance? The solution is obviously to cut the competition down to size, because in truth there is potential for some decent games.

Lens, Panathinaikos, Zenit St Petersburg, Galatasaray, AEK, Leverkusen, Toulouse, Fiorentina, Tottenham, Everton and more are all compable of playing some decent football… let’s get these clubs playing each other earlier rather than wasting time with ridiculous match-ups between a bunch of unknowns.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

The next round of European Championship Qualifiers is soon upon us, with some of the groups playing their final fixtures. Currently some the biggest names in international football are in the precarious position of failing to secure a spot in next summer’s ‘extravaganza’ in Austria and Switzerland. Lets look at how the events could pan out…

Group A

Poland are seemingly repeating their old trick. Forever world-beaters when it comes to qualification, but the question remains whether they can produce such performances in the actual tournaments. Recent history suggests not. They top the group and with a home game to Kazakhstan to come, they must be quietly confident of progression. Finland may have been unfancied prior to their campaign, but have built some steady success due to an impressive defence. It remains to be seen whether they can complete qualification at the expense of the likes of Portugal though.

They face the toughest test with an away fixture in Belgium. The Belgians are hardly the force of years gone by, however, and are currently suffering a dearth of promising young talent. Finland are well capable of going there and taking all 3 points, but unfortunately for them results have to swing their way. Portugal’s campaign has been mixed at best, suffering from an inability to turn domination into victories (5 draws). Both Serbia and Portugal have games in hand against meagre opponents, but the 1 point advantage that Portugal holds over the Serbians should be enough to take them through.

Group B

Scotland’s double-whammy over France has blown this group wide open, yet the cynics will still point to testing remaining fixtures and the realistic possibility that the Scots still won’t have enough to qualify for this years competition. The home game against the Ukraine is a tricky prospect. One can envisage much attacking from the Scotland only to be inevitably picked off on the counter-attack as they leave spaces in behind. Technically gifted players like Tymoshchyuk, Voronin and Vorobey will most certainly be looking to exploit an open style game. The 2nd game for Scotland isn’t exactly an easy one, away in Tblisi. Indeed, the Georgian’s away record is hardly stuff of legend, but always prove to be a difficult force to deal with on their own patch. Then we must not forget the final game at home to Italy! Italy have the easiest run-in and will be mildly confident that they can professionally brush off the likes of the Faroes and Georgia to secure their spot.

The crucial fixture may prove to be France’s intriguing trip to the Ukraine, where in all likelihood nothing less than a victory will suffice. Ukraine as mentioned before are hardly soft touches though, particularly at home, and France will be sufficiently worried about their prospects.

Group C

The fact that bitter rivals Greece and Turkey both occupy the top positions in the group with games in hand, lends one to suspect that both will be capable of booking their places in Euro 2008. Norway are the only team that can realistically still challenge, although a trip to unpredictable Bosnia hardly inspires confidence. The Bosnians have had an interesting campaign, securing tough victories against Turkey and Norway, but also suffering defeats at home to Hungary and a 4-0 drubbing by Greece. It remains to be seen in the future whether Bosnia can construct a side good enough to qualify.

Top spot should go the Greeks, and despite some early wobbles they have looked a decent side. From the purists’ perspective it is only right and proper that the European Champions have the opportunity to defend their trophy. Certainly they are expected to go well; a midfield containing Karagounis, Katsouranis, Basinas and Giannikopoulos will be one of the strongest ones in the tournament.

Group D

It was always going to be a difficult task for Ireland to depose either Germany or the Czech Republic off the top two places, and this was made almost impossible through their abysmal start. Slight improvements have been made, but Steve Staunton’s men have left it a little too late. Germany have continued their impressive form from the World Cup, playing with some stylish attacking verve, and will be looking to remain unbeaten in their final 4 games. Klose and the rejuvenated Kuranyi have posed an awesome partnership, whilst footballer of the year Mario Gomez is kept to the bench. The Germans have even shown a strength in depth. Injuries to Michael Ballack, Tim Borowski and Torsten Frings have been more than compensated for by the arrivals of the likes of Hilbert, Pander and Jansen.

The Czech Republic have once again showed considerable strength, although aside from Germany, this group hardly represents the sternest of tests. Bundesliga stars Jarolim and Galasek have performed well, while Jankulovski and Rozehnal have proved to have a considerable presence at the back. The main problem it seems stems from a profilacy in front of goal. Without big Jan Koller, the options look limited; if Milan Baros is the best answer then that surely is cause for concern. Slovakia has applied themselves well with massive wins against Cyprus and Wales, 6-1 and 5-1 respectively, with a dangerous partnership formed by the Nurnberg duo of Marek Mintal and Robert Vittek.

Group E

It should prove to be an exciting final 3 games in group E, with 4 teams still clinging to realistic hopes of qualification. Croatia have a 6 point cushion over 4th placed Israel, which gives them a degree of breathing space, however I’m sure they will fear the away game with England. At the same time, the English won’t be exactly relishing an away trip to Moscow on October 17th, which is potentially the hardest game in the group — and the most vital. The momentum is now with England following their comfortable double of 3-0 victories over Israel and Russia at Wembly, although they will need to show a little more creativity if they are to unpick the Russian defence away from home.

Israel have performed well thus far, including an impressive defensive display to a secure a stalemate with England. Nevertheless, the reality of the situation is that they need to take all 3 points in Zagreb to have any chance of qualification, a feat that is surely only likely with the most fortunate of smash and grab raids. Croatia at the top of the group have been fairly imperious, and are many people’s outside choice as potential winners of the tournament come June. Eduardo has proved himself to be a goalscorer of some repute, while Srna, Rapaic and Corluka provide the side with natural width. The team also seems to possess an ability to be flexible; sometimes adopting wingbacks with 3 central defenders, and on occasion reverting to the tried and trusted 4-4-2.

Group F

Sweden top the group and not only have capitalised on Spain’s indifferent form, running out 2-0 winners in the first match-up, but have taken 4 points off of neighbourly rivals Denmark. Toulouse striker Elmander and former Aston Villa failure Allback hardly present the most fearsome of threats in the absence of the legendary Henrik Larsson, however Sweden’s strengths lie in its equally solid and creative midfield. Linderoth, now plying his trade in Turkey with Galatasaray, is at the base of a midfield, allowing more creative forces to shine in the form of Wilhelmsson, Kallstrom, Ljungberg and Svensson.

Northern Ireland has been the pleasant surprise in the group, and of course many of the supporters may have been dreaming of the unlikely prospect of qualification. Away defeats to Latvia and Iceland have brought such hopes crashing to the ground. Indeed, with the next game away to Sweden, it would take the most optimistic of fans to suggest they can return with anything better than a defeat. It has been a great experience for the team though, and the victories over Sweden and Spain will long be remembered by fans of the game.

Denmark will still harbour hopes of qualification, even though they are admittedly slim. They do have a game in hand over Spain however and will be looking for a big performance against them in Copenhagen on October 13th. Spain have been pretty abject by their standards in this campaign, a hangover perhaps from yet another unsatisfactory showing in a major international tournament. Indeed, their plight could have been even worse had it not been for Andres Iniesta’s late winner in the 1st match-up against Iceland, and then saving the Spanish blushes in the 2nd game with a last-gasp equaliser 5 minutes from time. A final mention goes to Latvia, who haven’t showed any the form that took them to Euro 2004; their debut appearance at a major international tournament.

Group G

Group G has gone down to a 3-way tussle between Romania, Netherlands and Bulgaria, though the advantage lies with the first two names on the basis of their games in hand. Things are not yet over for the Bulgarians, however, who will be certain that one of the teams will drop points as Romania entertains Netherlands on the 13th October. Bulgaria will have to be clinical in their game if they want to capitalise though; an away game in Albania isn’t the easiest of encounters in international football. We haven’t seen the Romanians feature in last couple of major tournaments, but it seems after the golden age of Dumitrescu, Popescu, Petrescu and Hagi, there is now developing a decent, young attacking outfit. The defence has some experienced and capable individuals; Cosmin Contra (once of AC Milan), Razvan Rat of Shahktar and Cristian Chivu of Inter make an uncompromising threesome. Zica and Dica are both influential in midfield as well as possessing true technical ability, while the talismann that is Adrian Mutu is once again firing for club and country.

The Netherlands won’t relish their away game in Bucharest, and will certainly need a better performance than their last game where they were nearly embarrassed in Tirana; saved by the back-in-favour poacher Van Nistlerooy. A new generation is coming through for the Dutch, but it remains to be seen as to whether they can replicate the style and swagger of the orange-shirts in years gone by. It may be the case that this current crop of players are trading the attacking verve that is characteristic of previous Dutch sides, in for a more restrained style of play; the hope is this will bring the results for the success starved fans.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

This article is a submission for the Soccerlens Football Writing Competition; to participate, please read the details here.

According to the ‘official statistics‘ (Ed: last checked on 6 Oct 07), Romania is currently the 12th best side in the world. FIFA it seems are not deterred by the mere fact the national side has failed to qualify for the last three major tournaments. Indeed, you have to go back to the year 2000 to have any recollection of Romanian presence in one of the top events.

Admittedly, Euro 2000 was quite a success for the Tricolorii. Un-fancied to progress through the group of death — England, Portugal and Germany, before the outset, the boys in yellow gave a surprising account of themselves. Qualification through the group stages looked unlikely at one point; down 2-1 to England at half-time in their 3rd game. An attacking game plan in the second period, however, saw Romania capitalise on some dire England mistakes, and round out 3-2 winners courtesy of an Ioan Ganea penalty in the dying minutes. Hagi and his men couldn’t overcome an imperious Italian side, however, and with elimination came the sad retirement of the genius playmaker. Since then, things haven’t been quite so good.

Romania’s golden generation of players; the likes of Petrescu, Hagi, Raducioiu, Popescu and Dumitrescu were no longer capable of competing at the highest level. The problem was that very little quality was waiting in wings to replace them. Since 2000, Romania have yet to qualify for a major tournament. 2002 was a near-miss in a playoff at the hands of Slovenia, a side who seemingly were enjoying the greatest success in their history by qualifying for 2 major tournaments in succession. Romanian hopes dipped to new levels upon failing in the 2004 campaign. A run of indifferent results put paid to their chances, with Denmark and Norway securing the top two spots. 2006 was a continuance of the misery. Average results ultimately culminated in another finish of third behind the Czech Republic and Holland.

It must be said that Romanian supporters must have been going into the 2008 European Champion qualification campaign with very low optimism of the national side’s chances. So it also must come as a pleasant surprise to see the team top Group G with 20 points; with a gap of 2 points and a game in hand over neighbourly rivals Bulgaria in 3rd position. What is more important is that Head Coach Victor Piturca has seemingly developed a side that looks capable of replicating the swagger and class of previous years. The dearth of talent in Romanian football seems to be at an end.

A large proportion of this revival must come down to mercurial figure of Adrian Mutu, who has spearheaded the attack with the renewed belief that on his day, he can be one of the most technically proficient players in the world. For country and club (Fiorentina) he has shown some dazzling touch, and Romania’s immediate and future fortunes surely depend on the fitness and form of this intriguing character.

Other players have also started to blossom. In 2006, Caprian Marica earned a high profile move to the Bundesliga side, Vfb Stuttgart, after showing huge potential. It was disappointing then to see him struggle to come to terms with his new surroundings, earning criticism for some below par performances. More recently, however, the player has begun to show signs of forming a dangerous partnership with Mutu, and while not on the scoresheet as much as some would hope, is proving to be a useful foil in attack. The defence continues to have a steely, experienced shape to it. Razman Rat, Cristian Chivu and Cosmin Contra have a wealth of international and european club football under their belts.

Perhaps the national side have benefited in many respects from the healthy state of affairs at the two top Bucheresti clubs. Both Steaua and Dinamo have churned out and developed some interesting products, and as a result have recently been able to compete more consistently against some of the better sides across Europe.

It was not so long ago that both teams were squaring up to one another in the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup. Indeed, Steaua Bucheresti could have booked a place in the final had they not contrived to throw away a 3 goal advantage against Middlesbrough. Nicolae Dica, Dorin Goian and Banel Nicolita have all emerged as top performers. Dica in particular looks the most impressive; a touch and awareness that makes him quite the creative force operating just behind the front two.

Romanian supporters have endured a period of suffering these last few years, lamenting the loss of some exceptional footballers to retirement. Nevertheless a new generation is emerging, and this team might just provide the success that the nation is craving. Qualification is still far from assured however. Next Saturday sees the top of the table clash as Mutu et al play host to the Netherlands. If Romania can avoid defeat in this game, they’ll edge a little bit closer to a return to the big time.

This article is a submission for the Soccerlens Football Writing Competition; to participate, please read the details here.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News