July 15, 16, 17, 18 & 19, 2021
Round 1 Fixtures
Thursday July 15, 2021
FC Botosani 0-0 FCSB ( att : 2,500 )
The first game of the season involved the sides who finished 6th and 2nd in the final 2020/21 table. FCSB, the legacy club of Steaua Bucharest, had finished top at the end of the regular 30 game season, but fell by the wayside to finish a distance second to CFR Cluj in the Championship play-off round. Their title hopes had probably been dealt a severe blow by the transfer of top scorer Denis Man to Parma in the winter break.
On paper, Botosani looked weaker than in the previous season, with Argentine midfielder Jonathan Rodriguez having been transferred to Cluj, and French striker and top scorer Hamidou Keyta ( 14 goals ) having left the club for destinations unknown. Botosani had only ever beaten FCSB once in twenty meetings.
FCSB dominated possession, but quite frankly did not deserve to win the match. Indeed, their main tactic appeared to be ridiculous dives for penalties, with embarrassing attempts by Octavian and Ovidiu Popescu, and Florin Tanase rightly ignored by the referee, the latter two being terrible pieces of acting, Tanase’s in particular was appalling, as an imaginary ankle tap was reacted to as if being shot by a sniper from the stand.
Ultimately, the referee was conned by another piece of theatrics by Octavian Popescu, and awarded a penalty in the 60th minute, perhaps as a result of the pressure of so many appeals. To make matters worse, any imaginary contact would have been outside of the penalty area. Justice was perhaps served though with Tanase’s tentative penalty, with three stops in his run-up, being well saved by Botosani keeper Eduard Pap
For FCSB, Razvan Oaida hit the post from a tight angle just before half-time and Olimpiu Morutan sent a freekick just wide. Neither side threatened much in the second half though, apart from the missed penalty.
At the final whistle Botosani celebrated as if they had won a trophy, but frankly they were good value for their point, and FCSB need to adopt a much less cynical approach.
Friday July 16, 2021
Sepsi OSK 2-0 Academica Clinceni ( att : 800 )
In a match-up between the sides who finished 4th and 5th after the Championship round in 2020/21, Sepsi were comfortable winners this time around.
New signing from Austrian side TSV Hartberg, Slovenian international Rajko Rep ( 5 caps ) opened the scoring in the 56th minute with a free-kick through the defensive wall, and captain Bogdan Mitrea sealed the win late on with a 30 yard shot that went right through the keeper. Academica rarely threatened.
CFR Cluj 3-2 U Craiova 1948 ( att : 4,500 )
Cluj, consecutive champions four seasons running, went into this match having had a narrow escape in the First Qualifying Round of the Champions league, needing a goal in extra time to get past Bosnian champions Borac Banja Luka. Indeed, had the away goals rule still been in operation, Cluj would have been out after a 3-1 home win and a 0-2 loss in Bosnia. However, they held on to the extra time goal from veteran Alexandru Chipciu to go through 4-3 on aggregate.
Back to the league, Cluj started with a home win over newly promoted U Craoiva, one of the two sides claiming to the legitimate successor to the original Universitatea Craiova club which was dissolved in 1991. After bankruptcy, the club was reformed in 2017 and have risen from the fourth level of Romanian football to take their place in Casa Liga 1. Their coach is ex-Chelsea and Juventus striker Adrian Mutu.
Things didn’t look too promising for the newcomers as they fell 0-2 behind after just 13 minutes, Captain Deac and Moroccan/Belgian Anas Tahiri with the goals. However, they were back on level terms just after the half-hour mark, thanks to Argentinian Juan Bauza’s deflected shot and Dutchman Baeten’s powerful downward header from a corner.
Cluj grabbed the winner with 15 minutes remaining on the clock. French forward Billel Omrani managed to get a foot to a low cross from the left which diverted the ball to the unmarked Petrila who gleefully slotted home from 6 yards.
Saturday July 17, 2021
Gaz Metan Medias 1-0 CS Mioveni ( att : 800 )
Gaz Metan’s 1-1 draw with Academica Clinceni was featured in these diaries in January, after which they were to eventually finish 9th. CS Mioveni earned promotion to the Casa Liga by winning their promotion play-off with FC Hermannstadt 2-1 on aggregate after finishing third in Liga 2. The winning goal came in the 93rd minute of the second leg.
Gaz Metan dominated the early stages of the game and took the lead in the 14th minute when Razvan Gradinaru’s cross was handled in the area and Comoros winger Chamed went down the centre as the Mioveni keeper dived to his left. Trif and Morar missed good chances to extend the lead.
Mioveni were give a potential lifeline in the 77th minute with a red card to Gaz Metan’s Brazilian defender Yuri Matias for a stud first high challenge on Blanaru. However, the visitors were unable to create any decent chance to equalise.
Universitatea Craiova 1-0 Arges Pitesti ( att : 6,000 )
At the winter break last season, newly promoted Arges were well adrift at the bottom of the table and looking in great danger of automatic relegation. However, an excellent second half of the season with 7 wins and 4 draws saw them finish 8th in the regular season. Two defeats in their last two matches of the Relegation round saw them slip from 8th to 11th in the overall final table.
Universitatea were second at the winter break, but faded to finish 7 points behind FCSB in the regular season, and then 13 points behind Cluj in the Championship final round table.
Arges sensationally nearly opened the scoring after only 10 seconds, new signing Portuguese forward Jucie Lupeta burst through some hesitant defending but blasted his shot straight at keeper Pigliacelli, and the same player missed a sitter in the 32 minute when Pigliacelli could only parry a long shot and Lupeta put the ball wide from 8 yards with the goal gaping.
Andrei Ivan shown him how it should be done, with a diving header from 6 yards out 10 minutes into the second half to give Craiova perhaps an underserved the lead.
Lupeta did get the ball into the net soon after but he was adjudged to have been offside, but it looked very marginally, and there is no VAR in the Casa Liga. Arges probably deserved a draw from the game, and U Craiova will have to play a lot better if they are to seriously challenge for the championship this season
Sunday July 18, 2021
UTA Arad 0-0 Farul Constanta ( att : 5,500 )
Farul are a new name in the Casa Liga, following the merger of FC Viitorul Constanta and second level Farul Constanta, with the newly merged club taking Viitorul place in the league. Joint owner, Romanian football legend Gheorghe Hagi, has resumed coaching duties.
Arad finished 8th in their first season back in the top flight and were featured in these diaries in February, whilst Viitorul came 10th. Both clubs are expected to be mid-table again.
This was another match that nearly had a goal in the first 10 seconds, this time UTA’s Miculescu’s 25 yard shot crashed back off the bar and to safety. Arad had the slight edge in the contest without creating any clear-cut chances and had a further advantage with 20 minutes to go when Farul’s Dussaut was shown a second yellow card for an unnecessary shirt pull on Brazilian Roger after being beaten
The match held up for several minutes shortly after when a nasty accidental collision involving Roger and Gabriel Danuleasa left the Farul player motionless on the pitch with a head injury. With an ambulance on the pitch, he was eventually put onto a stretcher and onto a buggy, dazed but conscious.
The incident took a lot of the energy from the match, although UTA nearly snatched a winner in the 9th minute of added on time, but the 10 men held on for the draw.
Rapid Bucuresti 1-0 Chindia Targoviste ( att : 12,000 )
Rapid are one of the traditional big clubs in Romanian football, but have returned to the top division for the first time since relegation in 2015 which led to bankruptcy and having to restart at the 5th level of football in Romania. Promotion was earned with a second place finish in Liga 2. Chindia finished 7th and lost out on a Europa Conference place in the play-offs.
It was a fairly even game decided by a piece of good fortune, Papadiuc’s attempted clearance as Adrian Balan was in the process of taking a shot rebounded off the Rapid striker’s leg and cannoned into the back of the net. Chindia wasted a good chance with 8 minutes left to play but Florea lost control of the ball whilst clean through and bearing down on the Rapid keeper.
One curio from the game. At a first half corner, two Rapid players were separately rugby tackled by Chindia defenders, but neither was deemed worthy of a foul and penalty. There is no VAR is the Casa Liga……………
Monday July 19, 2021
Dinamo Bucharest 3-2 FC Voluntari ( att : 7,000 )
A match between two of last season’s strugglers. 18 times champions Dinamo had a difficult season with rumours of financial difficulties and non-payment of player’s salaries, and they finished the regular season in 14th place. However, a decent record in the relegation round saw them end up three points clear of the relegation play-off places in 12th. Perhaps as a sign of their money troubles the Dinamo squad is currently entirely Romanian and their foreigners ( 7 at the winter break in 2020/21 ) are no longer with the club. Despite being at home, for some reason Dinamo played in their lime green away kit.
Voluntari were one place below Dinamo last season, but survived after beating Dunarea Calarasi 6-1 on aggregate in their play-off.
Voluntari started strongly and could have been 3 up in after half an hour but only had Fulop’s snap-shot to show for their efforts. It then became the Deian Sorescu show as Dinamo’s 22 year old midfielder took over and scored a hat-trick. The first was a left-footed placement to the opposite corner after a mazy run across the face of the goal and the second was a long range effort that Voluntari keeper Rimniceanu really ought to have saved with the ball bouncing through his attempt to push the ball away. Sorescu’s third was another long-range effort but this time took a deflection to wrong foot the keeper.
In between Voluntari had pulled the score back to 2-2, Fulop’s dinked cross from the by-line was behind Rata, but the Moldovan did well to twist and head the ball home from 5 yards.
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