Oaks meet Lobos in Bucharest
The Oaks of Romania meet the Lobos of Portugal in a European Nations Cup match in Bucharest on Saturday.
Both sides are weakened from the team which went to the World Cup a few months ago, largely because of the exultance of clubs to set their players free.
Portugal are without 17 of the 30 players who went to the World Cup – Vasco Uva, João Uva, Pedro Carvalho, Rui Cordeiro, Diogo Coutinho, Marcello d’Orey, Joaquim Ferreira, Duarte Figueiredo, Diogo Gama, Andre Silva, Gonçalo Malheiro, Paulo Murinello, David Penalva, the two Pintos, Luis Pissarra, Miguel Portela and Federico Sousa.
The Romanians did not have one of their France-based players available. This was true last weekend as well when their young side battled to beat Spain. An indication of how they have been affected is that they took five props to the World Cup – Bogdan and Petru Balan, Sliviu Florea, Cezar Popescu and Petrisor Toderasc – and not one will play against Portugal in Bucharest. In fact the only Romanians who were at the World Cup and will be playing against Portugal are Florin Vlaicu, Catalin Fercu, Csaba Gal, Ionut Dimofte, Valentin Ursache, Valentin Calafeteanu and Danut Dumbrava. Seven out of 22.
Romania have little more than a mathematical chance of winning the European Nations Cup, Portugal no chance at all.
The standings at present, with matches played and points accrued, are:
1 Georgia 7; 19
2 Russia 6; 16
3 Romania 7; 15
4 Portugal 8; 14
5 Spain 7; 13
6 Czech Republic 7; 7
It looks a race between Russia, who play Spain on Saturday, and Georgia.
Teams:
Romania: 15 Florin Vlaicu (Steaua), 14 Gheorghita Bigiu (Dinamo), 13 Catalin Fercu (Steaua), 12 Csaba Gal (U Cluj), 11 Vasile Ghioc (Dinamo), 10 Ionut Dimofte (Steaua), 9 Iulian Andrei (Steaua), 8 Costica Mersoiu (Dinamo) (captain), 7 Daniel Carpo (Farul), 6 Vasile Rus (Steaua), 5 Valentin Poparlan (Dinamo), 4 Alin Coste (Narbonne), 3 Radu Basalau (Steaua), 2 Bogdan Zebega (Steaua), 1 Nicolae Nere (Steaua),
Replacements: 16 Marcel Mihalache (Steaua), 17 Mihaita Lazar (Dinamo), 18 Valentin Ursache (Steaua), 19 Stelian Burcea (Dinamo), 20 Valentin Calafeteanu (Dinamo), 21 Danut Dumbrava (Steaua), 22 Stefan Ciuntu (U Cluj)
Portugal squad: João Correia, Eduardo Acosta, Adérito Esteves, Pedro Leal (Direito), Juan Murré (Livorno, Italy), Cristian Spachuk (Blagnac, France), Rodrigo Aguiar, Bernardo Duarte, Lourenço Kadosh, Francisco Mira, Vasco Gaspar, António Duarte (Agronomia), Francisco Fragateiro, António Sarmento (CDUP), Gonçalo Uva (Montpellier, France), Juan Severino (Reggio, Italy), Tiago Girão (CRC Madrid, Spain), Pedro Cabral, Gonçalo Foro (CDUL), Diogo Mateus, David Mateus (Belenenses), António Aguilar (Tarbes, France).
Date: Saturday 8 March 2008
Kick-off: 13.00h local ( 11.00h UTC, 12.00 CET)
Venue: Stadion Arcul de Triumf, Bucharest
Expected weather conditions: Scattered clouds with a high of 15°C, dropping to 6°C and a light southwester
Referee: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Touch judges: Alan Rogan (Ireland), Mark Hermin (Ireland)
