After narrowly missing out on a World Cup playoff berth, Romania will head to Netanya Stadium on Tuesday for a friendly against Israel in the final tune-up match for both countries before the UEFA Nations League gets underway in June.
The Blue and Whites dropped a fourth successive road fixture on Saturday, losing 2-0 against Germany, while the Romanians fell 1-0 at home to Greece last Friday.
Match preview
Despite a promising start to their 2022 World Cup qualification campaign, collecting seven points from their first three fixtures, in the end, Israel could not compete with veteran sides like Denmark and Scotland, finishing the group stage in a distant third with 16 points.
They come into this encounter unbeaten in four straight home games, defeating Austria (5-2), Moldova (2-1) and the Faroe Islands (3-2) over that stretch.
In their previous fixture versus Die Mannschaft, some outstanding goalkeeping kept the four-time World Cup winners at bay until the 36th minute as a far superior German team thoroughly dominated the Israelis.
Under the guidance of caretaker-manager Gadi Brumer, the goal will be to provide some stability and consistency within this group in preparation for their opening fixture in the UEFA Nations League, when they host Iceland on June 2.
Brumer should not have too much trouble getting acquainted with this team, with many faces who will be familiar to the South African born coach.
Most of the current players feature in Israel for Maccabi Tel Aviv, where Brumer served as an assistant manager from 2005-06, and he is currently the coach for their U-16 side.
Israel had little difficulty in starting their qualifiers brightly, scoring the opening goal in all but three of those games, although had they been able to hang on to the lead they had in both of their matches against Scotland, the Chosen Team could still be in the hunt for a berth in Qatar.
One point separated Romania from a place in the playoffs and a chance to return to the World Cup for the first time since 1998.
Close but no cigar has been a common theme for this Romanian team, twice missing the finals through a playoff in the 2000s, with their last major tournament appearance being at Euro 2016 in France.
The current edition of Tricolorii may not be on the same level as the Golden Generation that qualified for three straight World Cups in the 1990s, but they have proven to be a tough side to break down, narrowly losing twice to Germany in qualifying, despite scoring first against them in a 2-1 defeat in Hamburg last October.
In their qualification group, the Romanians were guilty of easing off late in matches, conceding five goals beyond the 80th minute, including two against Armenia in a 3-2 defeat, which could have moved them ahead of North Macedonia and into a playoff position.
For this upcoming fixture, manager Edward Iordanescu decided that it was time for youth to be served, as only seven players on the 25-man squad called up for these friendlies are over the age of 30, and just two (Vlad Chiriches and Alexandru Maxim) have more than 30 caps internationally.
Away from home, Romania have posted three clean sheets in their previous four games, keeping North Macedonia, Iceland and Liechtenstein off the scoresheet.
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Team News
Eran Zahavi, who was not selected for this friendly, led all Group F players in scoring, finding the back of the net eight times in World Cup qualifying for Israel.
Munas Dabbur, who scored six times in their recent qualification cycle, started on Saturday in Hoffenheim, where he plays his club football.
Feyenoord goalkeeper Ofir Marciano faced nine shots against Germany on Saturday, while defender Eli Dasa, who also plays in the Netherlands for Vitesse, collected his 45th cap for the national team, and Celtic midfielder Nir Bitton has a chance to make his 40th appearance in this one.
Several players made their international debuts for Israel this past weekend, including Dean David, Tai Baribo, Ramzi Safouri, Gabi Kanichowsky and Sean Goldberg.
Romanian midfielder Ianis Hagi, son of the legendary Gheorghe Hagi, will miss this encounter after suffering a season-ending knee injury at his club side Rangers in January.
George Puscas, who is currently on loan in the second tier of Italian football with Pisa from Reading, has his current team positioned to be promoted into Serie A next season.
I Nerazzuri are in second place, a point back of Cremonese, in a division that also features fellow Romanians Dennis Man of Parma and Marius Marin, a teammate of Puscas at the moment in Tuscany.
Alexandru Cicaldau has four goals in the Turkish Super Lig for Galatasaray, while Octavian Popescu and Radu Dragusin earned their first international caps last week.
Israel possible starting lineup:
Marciano; Goldberg, Baltaxa, Dgani, Dasa; Natkho, Bitton, Solomon, Avraham; David, Dabbur
Romania possible starting lineup:
Moldovan; Ratiu, Chiriches, Nedelcearu, Manea; Marin, Bordeianu; Popescu, Cicaldau, Petrila; Ivan
We say: Israel 1-2 Romania
These teams have not met since 2018 when Romania won 2-1, and we project a narrow victory for Tricolorii in this one, as they are a more balanced side who have played well in recent memory versus some stiff competition.
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