As a result of the results that were registered in the parties played last night by the Romanian Rivals in Group H, the chances of direct qualification at the World Tricolor Championship began to decrease considerably.
Radu Drăgușin returns to photo training/Adevărul Archives
Bosnia defeated San Marino, final score 6-0, and Austria managed to win 1-0 in front of the first representative of Cyprus. Both teams recorded victories on a treadmill, while Mircea Lucescu’s boys could not impose in the direct duels with them.
In this context, Romania risks missing even the second place in the standings, which could bring him a chance to play the preliminary dam.
Romania can qualify for the World Championship through the League of Nations
To stay in the world race, Romania owns an ace in the sleeve. This Ace of the tricolor sleeve is called the Dam in the League of Nations. The tricolors won Group C, with victories on the line in front of the opponents in Kosovo, Cyprus and Lithuania and accumulated the maximum points (18).
On the other hand, Sweden and Northern Macedonia won their groups with 16 points each, while Northern Ireland managed to record only 11 points.
If the World Cup qualification campaign will end tragically for Romania, promotion in League B would mean a great chance for tricolors.
Why is the League of Nations a safety net for Romania?
There were 14 group winners in the competition. Romania was in the first place between those in Liga C and 9th place in the general hierarchy of group winners.
As for the World Cup dam, UEFA is willing to offer four places to the best ranked group winners in the League of Nations, who will not end the campaign on the first two positions in the preliminaries.
The 14 bands are the following:
1. Spain (A4) – 16 points
2. Germany (A3) – 14 points
3. Portugal (A1) – 14 points
4. France (A2) – 13 points
5. England (B2) – 15 points
6. Norway (B3) – 13 points
7. Wales (B4) – 12 points
8. Czech Republic (B1) – 11 points
9. Romania (C2) – 18 points
10. Sweden (C1) – 16 points
11. North Macedonia (C4) – 16 points
12. Northern Ireland (C3) – 11 points
13. Moldova (D2) – 9 points
14. San Marino (D1) – 7 points.
Therefore, three of the first eight bands of the above should not be missing from the 1-2 places of the preliminary groups, so that Romania can secure its dam through the League of Nations.
Spain, France and Portugal began with victories in the preliminaries, while Germany lost surprisingly with Slovakia. The Czech Republic leads Group L with 12 points, and England has four in four victories in group K.
In Group J, Wales are in the first place, but Belgium and North Macedonia can climb over it. Norway goes perfectly in the group with Israel and Italy, with 12 points out of 12.
Romania’s chances at the dam through the League of Nations remain great
At the dam will be 16 teams: 8 series heads and 8 outsiders. The series leaders will be the teams from the 2nd place with the best results, and the rest of the places will be occupied by four other teams from the preliminaries and the four coming from the Nations League.
Romania must have a good course in the preliminaries and finish in 2nd place to be a series head at the dam. This would bring more accessible opponents, such as Moldova, San Marino or Northern Ireland, and the advantage of their own land.
The semi-final of the dam will be played in a single leg on March 26, 2026, and the decisive final for the World Cup on March 31, 2026. The next match of the “tricolors” is on Tuesday, September 9, from 21:45, with Cyprus, to Nicosia.
Bomb news for tricolors! When Radu Drăgușin comes back
Radu Drăgușin approaches the return to the field after the serious injury in January. Then, in the match won by Tottenham 3-0 against Elfsborg, in the Europa League, the Romanian defender suffered a cross ligament break, which he had taken out of the game for the whole season.
After months of recovery, Tottenham’s coach, Thomas Frank, announced that Drăgușin will return to the team program in about a week. However, he will need at least six weeks of special workouts before he can play. Thus, his first official appearance could be towards the end of October.
