Gică Hagi revealed what is the biggest regret of his career, with the Romanian national team. The former captain of the Golden Generation believes that missing the qualification in the semifinals of the World Cup in 1994 represents the biggest disappointment experienced under the shirt of the first representative.
At the final tournament in the USA, Romania managed one of the greatest performances in its history, eliminating Argentina in the round of 16, score 3-2, in a match considered among the most spectacular in the history of the World Championships. In the quarter-finals, the tricolors came very close to a historic qualification for the semi-finals, but were eliminated by Sweden on penalties.
“It’s the biggest regret!”
Hagi declared that he still regrets the fact that Romania missed the duel with Brazil in the semifinals, a team that had Dunga, Bebeto, Romario and Ronaldo in the squad. The former captain of the national team is of the opinion that the Golden Generation had the necessary value to fight on an equal footing with the great powers of world football.
“(no Is there an opponent from the 1994 World Cup that you wish you could have met and are sorry you didn’t get the chance?) Brazil, all of them. It’s the biggest regret. We all saw each other there, we felt we were going to be in the semi-final with Brazil. We wanted to play the Brazilians, I think the tactics would have been the same as in the other big games, and in terms of value we were there, close to the Brazilians!“, says Hagi, for iamsport.ro.
“But in the end we were eliminated on penalties. Unlucky!”
The former captain of the national team declared that a confrontation with Brazil would have resembled, from his point of view, the match won by Romania against Batistuta’s Argentina.
“Same thing, yes. But with Argentina there were more transitions. Otherwise, about there, yeah, same type of match. A very nice one. We defended in the middle of the pitch, in the middle third. It was hard to press in that forty-something degree heat. Especially doing something like that every three days! We had to adapt the tactics to the conditions there, which we did, that’s why it went very well for us. Too bad… But in the end we were eliminated on penalties. Bad luck!“, added Hagi.
