Romania - France l Match in focus l

MESSAGE TO EUROPE: DON'T UNDERESTIMATE US.

It's about the time when I begin to get really excited. I've been waiting for this for the past eight years and I have a feeling I'm not the only one. There will be 23 million people wearing yellow this coming Monday for the Romania - France game, hoping and expecting that some kind of miracle can happen and that Romania might be able to defeat les Bleus, the world finalists just two years ago. 

Nobody expects Romania to do anything this Euro. We're in "The Group of Death," the impossible group that only Italy, France or Holland could move on from.  There are two options for Romania this final tournament: either we surprise everyone from the beginning and keep surprising until we move out of the group stages and then fail under pressure later on, or we don't surprise anyone and we fail under pressure from the beginning. There is no middle ground with Romania, and a middle ground should never be expected. Either we shock the hell out of every betting man, or we make them happy. 

Point: Romania 1994

In 1994 the situation was very similar to the one we're faced with now - very tough opponents in our group, and no one expected us to do anything at all. What came out of WC94 was completely positive - victories against Colombia and Argentina, and a good run until we completely blundered it against Sweden and then lost it in penalties - a game we had in our hand. 

Point: France sucks. 

I don't see the justification for all of the big hype for the French.. I really don't. This is a team that didn't even deserve to qualify after Scotland wiped the floor with them twice in the groups. They have performed terribly in their friendlies and with all of their big name stars, managed to do fuck all in terms of scoring. Their highest scorers in the pre-Euro friendlies were Gomis (2 goals) and Ribery (2 goals, both penalties). Gomis won't play (at least against Romania), so there goes half of their attacking productivity. Their performance through all these friendlies was terrible, boring, and unproductive. Romania will need to take advantage of this.

France also has more than a hand full of players that are in the squad just because they are French glories, and not because they are in top form or will make enough impact. With them in there, surprises are always possible, but the chances are that it will work in our favor more than against our favor. 

Here are the significant games registered by France since the world cup:

France 3-1 Italy
France 0-0 Italy
France 0-1 Scotland
France 0-1 Scotland
France 2-2 Ukraine
France 2-0 Ukraine
France 1-0 England
France 2-0 Ecuador
France 0-0 Paraguay
France 1-0 Colombia

They've played one team qualified to Euro 2008, drew once and won once against Italy. They've been beaten twice by Scotland, home and away, drew and beat Ukraine, won the England friendly in an awful game with a penalty, and then struggled to barely beat and draw second-tier South American teams. 

Here are the significant games registered by Romania in the past two years:

Romania 2-0 Czech Republic
Romania 1-0 Spain
Romania 1-3 Germany
Romania 0-0 Holland
Romania 1-0 Holland
Romania 2-0 Turkey
Romania 3-0 Russia
Romania 4-0 Muntenegro

We've played against 6 teams qualified to Euro since 2006 and we've lost to one of them (Germany). However, I could excuse this by saying that we played 60 minutes of the game with no main players, and the whole 23 man squad was rolled in the game, the germans having Schweinsteiger and co. still on the pitch at the end of the game while we had our third keeper and a team made of all Romanian League players. But without excuses, we've beaten 5 teams qualified to Euro 2008 in the past two years. We're ready, and we've proven ourselves to be ready. We've scored 9 goals and received 3 goals in games agaisnt teams qualified to EURO 2008. 

If the players remain calm and colected and we play our game, we'll beat France and beat them soundly. There is an interesting tactic prepared by Piturca for the France game. Chivu will play Defensive midfield on the left side - tracking Ribery. Daniel Niculae could start the game due to the fact that he plays in Ligue 1 and is in great form. Banel Nicolita could be in the starting 11 to contain the speed of Abidal. 

Point: Injuries

Henry and Ribery have injury concerns. Vieira is just recovering from an injury. All three are said to start the game even if not 100% fit. All I have to say is thank you Colombia!

Point: Sagnol + Thuram

What makes me laugh most is the French defense. We have Mutu attacking the left side against Sagnol and Thuram. I can't wait to see this. It might be the sole reason that we win the game. We play an attacking trident, and if they give too much attention to Mutu since I doubt Sagnol can handle him alone, then openings will appear in the center of the defense. 

Point: Adrian Mutu #10

I don't care what anyone says, France don't have anyone like Mutu on the team. Since Zidane retired, there is no Mutu figure in the french squad.  He'll have more impact than the whole 4 attacking French players, because for Romania, Mutu plays all those positions. Makelele won't breathe this hard ever again.

I'll follow up with more information about this match, pre-game, during game, and post-game analysis here following Romania from every angle possible.

Everything is possible. My guess: Romania 2-1 France.