“The coach of the Romanian national team assessed the draw of the World Cup selection playoffs for his wards”, — write: sport.ua
“All the teams in the first basket were equally strong. Normal draw, could not have picked an easy opponent for this tie. I think all teams have a chance.
Turkey? I can’t say that I know them very well, but I watched their last game with the Spanish national team and there were six players who made their debut for the national team during my time. These are the players I know very well from the time, 4-5 years ago, when they were very young.
Now they have much more experience. They are doing well now in terms of results, it is a great time for them. Our footballers have to raise their level during these four months by being a constant presence in their clubs, thanks to games from match to match, in order to maintain a good level until the playoffs. We cannot talk about chances – the match is played on the pitch and anything can happen. Football is unpredictable.
It will not be easy, the atmosphere will be “hot” and we must prepare for everything. We have the experience of the match against Bosnia in Zenica, we know what the atmosphere will be like, only the hospitality will be different.
It is not a matter of failure, we go from match to match and we will see. We are not interested in the playoff final, now we are playing with Turkey,” Lucescu said.
On March 26, Romania, led by Lucescu, will play against Turkey in an away match of the first round of the World Cup selection playoffs. In case of victory, the Romanians will face either Slovakia or Kosovo.
Mircea Lucescu led the Turkish national team between 2017 and 2019, playing 17 matches and winning only four of them.
🇷🇴 Romanian Technical Director Mircea Lucescu: Türk futbolunu iyi bilirom ama onlar da bizi iyi bilirom. Türkiye, Avrupa’daki en iyi talaqlardan biri. pic.twitter.com/dEbFzI9D2y
— A Spor (@aspor) November 20, 2025