The incidents in the match with Kosovo put under the rug the embarrassing performance of the tricolors in the game on Friday night. 17-4 was the ratio of shots towards the goal in favor of the opponents, 7-0 of those squared, while Florin Niță managed 7 saving interventions, compared to none of the opposing goalkeeper, who actually had nothing to defend.
Mircea Lucescu, amazed at the helplessness of his students. Sportpictures photo
The unfortunate evolution of the tricolors was not overlooked by Mircea Lucescu, who today put the guns on his own students: “The players realized they had a poor game, I guess because of the pressure to do well to win the group. We made big, childish mistakes, we gave them the opportunity to reach the goal. I agree that we lose balls, but because of the opponent, not because of our mistakes. I was quite upset that they didn’t find the best solutions. They tried to play individually.
70 loose balls out of 300
Kosovo presented themselves very well, they have players who develop at good clubs. They controlled the game. We were not incisive in attack, we lost a lot of balls. Out of 300 or so I lost about 70, a lot. I was lucky with an extraordinary goalkeeper. The match ended with a draw which satisfied us. The players also felt the pressure of a full stadium, otherwise I can’t explain it.” said Mircea Lucescu at the press conference before the match with Cyprus (Monday, 21.45, Prima TV), the last one in the League of Nations.
The selector believes that this situation is generated by the fact that the national team’s group is too homogeneous and other footballers do not manage to make their place in it. “These guys still have 4-5 years of performance, certainly with the concern of bringing in young people to come from behind. Now, it’s too homogeneous a group. We need more competition, 3-4 new players to come. We must not only be competitive with the opponent, but also among ourselves. We must not be afraid of numbers, we must analyze them”.
It was known that the opponents would come off the field
The coach also commented on the incidents during the game with Kosovo, when the visitors left the field and refused to restart the game. “We knew before that they would leave the field, they had declared at the conference. The audience behaved wonderfully. It cannot even be compared to what happened in Pristina. They threw objects at us, whistled our anthem. I expected that their anthem would not be whistled, they gave them water to the mill. They were hoping they would come off the pitch and win 3-0. Terrible lack of fair play.
It must be given on the field proof of respect and education. Then they came up with some lies. They were not offended, hit. When he challenged Alibec, he was not to answer the challenge, I had told them before. There was this fear that something might happen.
The referee should have ended the game faster
If we don’t win 3-0, it means there is no more regulation. It was violated anyway because it went on so long. He had to make the decision immediately, they didn’t have the courage to do it. We were willing to stay until the morning. Anyway, I got home at 4. A team that leaves the field must lose 0-3. The decision must be made by the court. I respect their players, I shook hands, Muriqi came to me, but their behavior…”Mircea Lucescu also said.
