Romania vs Ukraine preview

February 7, 2011
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Romania had a very poor start to the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign but coach Razvan Lucescu is hoping a good performance in the Cyprus Cup will help his side return to the right track.

The talented coach, who is under heavy pressure following the poor start of the Euro 2012 qualifiers, summoned the total of 29 players for friendly games against Ukraine and Sweden or Cyprus.

The boss has hinted he would mostly field players from the domestic championship against Ukraine as he wants to see who he can count on for the very important game against Bosnia in March.

Florin Gardos, Adrian Salageanu, Paul Papp, Sabrin Sburlea and Liviu Ganea are the five uncapped players in the squad, while Iulian Apostol returns to the national team.

Cristian Chivu, Marius Constantin, Daniel Niculae and Cristian Tanase have been left out, but Ciprian Marica will be in the squad.

Romania squad:

Goalkeepers: Costel Pantilimon (FC Timişoara), Ciprian Tătăruşanu (FC Steaua Bucureşti) şi Silviu Lung Jr. (FC U Craiova).

Defenders: Cristian Săpunaru (FC Porto), Cornel Râpă (FC Oţelul Galaţi), Vasile Maftei (CFR Cluj), Gabriel Tamaş (West Bromwich Albion), Florin Gardoş (FC Steaua Bucureşti), Paul Papp (Sporting Club Vaslui), Dragos Grigore  (FC Dinamo Bucureşti), Răzvan Raţ (FC Şahtior Doneţk), Ştefan Radu (SS Lazio) and Adrian Sălăgeanu (FC Oţelul Galaţi).

Midfielders: Gabriel Torje (FC Dinamo Bucureşti), Mihai Roman (FC Rapid Bucureşti), Adrian Ropotan (FC Dinamo Moscova), Dan Alexa, Ianis Zicu (ambii, FC Timişoara), Iulian Apostol (FC Unirea Urziceni), Gabriel Mureşan (CFR Cluj), George Florescu (FC Alania Vladikavkaz), Silviu Ilie (FC Oţelul Galaţi) and Ciprian Deac (FC Schalke 04).

Forwards: Bogdan Stancu (Galatasaray SK), Gheorghe Bucur (Kuban Krasnodar), Sabrin Sburlea (FC Rapid Bucureşti), Ciprian Marica (VfB Stuttgart) and Liviu Ganea (FC Dinamo Bucureşti).

As one of the Euro 2012 hosts, Ukraine will not be taking part in the qualifying campaign, although they will have something to prove in this clash after failing to win any of their last three games.

Ukraine coach Yuriy Kalytvyntsev called 24 players for the friendly tournament in Cyprus, although Vitaliy Mandziuk and Yevgen Selezniov have pulled out through injuries.

Veteran keeper Oleksandr Shovkovskiy returns to the side after recovering from serious injury, while Dynamo Kyiv youngster Artem Kravets is also in the side.

Ukraine squad:

Goalkeepers: Andriy Piatov (FC Shakhtar Donetsk), Andriy Dykan (FC Sparkak Moscow, Russia), Oleksandr Shovkovskiy (FC Dynamo Kyiv).

Defenders: Dmytro Chygrynskiy, Oleksandr Kucher, Yaroslav Rakitskiy (all from FC Shakhtar), Taras Mykhalyk (FC Dynamo Kyiv), Oleksandr Romanchuk (FC Metalist Kharkiv), Artem Fedetskiy (FC Karpaty Lviv), Vitaliy Fedoriv (FC Amkar Perm, Russia).

Midfielders: Oleg Gusiev, Andriy Yarmolenko (both from FC Dynamo), Ruslan Rotan, Yevgen Konoplianka (both from FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Taras Stepanenko (FC Shakhtar), Denis Oliynyk (FC Metalist), Mykola Moroziuk (FC Metalurh Donetsk), Oleksandr Aliev (FC Lokomotiv, Russia), Anatoliy Tymoschuk (FC Bayern Munich, Germany).

Forwards: Andriy Shevchenko, Artem Milevskiy, Artem Kravets (all from FC Dynamo), Marco Devic (FC Metalist).

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