Football News Update: Romania Qualifies for Euro 2024 with Revitalized National Team
Bucharest, [Publication Date] – A smile spreads across Anghel Iordanescu’s face as he considers his incorrigible bequest to Romanian football. The 74-year-old former national team manager is proud to see his son, Edward Iordanescu, dragging the team out of the mire and into Euro 2024.
Thirty years ago, Anghel took Romania to the World Cup quarter-finals with an intoxicating attacking style that has remained an impossible benchmark ever since. Now, Edward has revitalized the national team, guiding them to a stupendous qualifying campaign for this summer’s showpiece, topping group I with 22 points and finishing unbeaten in their 10 games.
“We needed this moment,” Edward says. “We needed to win back our confidence, to win back the trust of the people, to understand we can be among the best. We never missed the talent, it was there all the time. But for a long time we didn’t know what to do with it.”
The decline of Romanian football since the Anghel era had been profound, with the national team only reaching one major tournament, Euro 2016, since 2008. However, the new leadership of the Romanian football federation, headed by Razvan Burleanu, has implemented a strategy to clean up the sport and restore its integrity.
“Integrity was not a key element for our football until then,” Burleanu says. “But since around 2018 the level of trust has increased a lot, even if sometimes it seems to be recognised more easily from afar.”
With a revitalized national team and a renewed focus on grassroots development, Romania is poised to make a strong impact at Euro 2024. They face Ukraine on Monday in an open group that also includes Belgium and Slovakia.
“We needed this moment,” Edward says. “We needed to win back our confidence, to win back the trust of the people, to understand we can be among the best.”
As the Iordanescu dynasty continues to shape the future of Romanian football, the nation’s fans are eagerly anticipating the team’s performance at the upcoming Euro 2024 tournament.
🔗 Source