Football, EC preliminaries: Northern Ireland vs. Romania on Saturday

Romania will play on Saturday in Belfast against Northern Ireland in a decisive match for the leadership of Group F. A win would 90% qualify the Romanian team for the European Championship next year.

The coach Anghel Iord?nescu received some good news before the game, two players having recovered. It’s about Razvan Rat and Florin Andone.

According gsp.ro the Romanian team would be as follows: T?t?ru?anu – S?punaru, Dragos Grigore, Chiriche?, Ra? – Pintilii, Prepeli?? – Ad. Popa, Chipciu, Maxim – Fl. Andone.

Spaniard Carlos Velasco Carballo will be the centre referee for the match on Saturday and will be helped by Roberto Alonso and Juan Yuste.

Group F standings before the match:

1. Romania 13p
2. Northern Ireland 12p
3. Hungary 8p
4. Finland 4p
5. Faroe 3p
6. Greece 2p

Northern Ireland – Romania is scheduled on Saturday at 21:45h, live on TVR 1.

Irish media says hopes boosted if Sanmartean will not play

Northern Ireland’s hopes of victory in tomorrow night’s Euro 2016 qualifier have been boosted with the news that playmaker Lucian Sanmartean is highly unlikely to be fit for the Group F showdown, belfasttelegraph.co.uk reports.

Sanmartean was the star performer for Romania when they beat Northern Ireland 2-0 in Bucharest in November and would relish taking on Michael O’Neill’s team again.

It appears, though, that he won’t get the opportunity with sources close to the Romanian team suggesting he only has ‘a 5% chance of playing’.

Sanmartean was sent to controversial Serbian healer Mariana Kovacevic at the weekend in a bid to ensure his fitness for the top of the table clash, but his leg injury is more serious than first thought.

Kovacevic, who has used horse placenta as part of her treatments, has had better luck with Romanian captain Razvan Rat.

The left back, who has won over 100 caps, also visited Belgrade and his abductor problem is clearing up.

Rat is now rated as having a 50/50 chance of playing at Windsor. The Romanians will do all they can to get him out on the pitch believing his experience will be a major asset.