The coach of the Romanian national team, Gică Hagi, has already called up a preliminary list for the first official matches of his tenure.
It is an extended squad, with 48 names, from which he will later select the players he will keep. This is the national team’s first official action with Hagi on the bench, and Romania will face Sweden in two weeks, on September 25, followed by a home match against Bosnia on the 28th, a game without spectators. Then, in the early days of October, we will play against Poland in Warsaw on the 2nd and at home against Sweden on the 5th, at the National Arena.
Hagi has now put together a very extended squad of around 50 people, with the official squad set to be decided on September 20, before the gathering at the Mogoșoaia National Training Center. Below are the call-ups:
GOALKEEPERS
Ionuț RADU (Celta Vigo | Spain, 9/0), Otto HINDRICH (Legia Warsaw | Poland, 2/0), Valentin COJOCARU (Pogon Szczecin | Poland, 0/0), Laurențiu POPESCU (Universitatea Craiova, 0/0), Ștefan TÂRNOVANU (FCSB, 5/0);
DEFENDERS
Andrei RAȚIU (Rayo Vallecano | Spain, 38/2), Tony STRATA (Vitória Guimarães | Portugal, 1/0), Deian SORESCU (Gaziantep | Turkey, 25/0), Radu DRĂGUȘIN (Fiorentina | Italy, 30/1), Andrei COUBIȘ (Lincoln City | England, 3/0), Bogdan RACOVIȚAN (Raków | Poland, 5/0), Alexandru PAȘCANU (FC Rapid 1923, 1/0), Virgil GHIȚĂ (Hannover 96 | Germany, 10/1), Andrei BURCĂ (Yunnan Yukun | China, 46/1), Matei ILIE (Kasımpaşa | Turkey, 2/0), Nicușor BANCU (Universitatea Craiova, 52/2), Andrei BORZA (Çorum | Turkey, 2/0), Lisav EISSAT (Bristol City, 4/0), Raul OPRUȚ (Dinamo, 5/0);
MIDFIELDERS
Tudor BĂLUȚĂ (Universitatea Craiova, 14/0), Vladimir SCRECIU (Universitatea Craiova, 8/0), Marius MARIN (Al Nasr | UAE, 35/0), Andrei MĂRGINEAN (Dinamo, 0/0), Răzvan MARIN (AEK Athens | Greece, 75/12), Nicolae STANCIU (Dalian Yingbo | China, 87/15), Marius CORBU (Ferencváros | Hungary, 0/0), Cătălin CÎRJAN (Dinamo, 2/0), Vlad DRAGOMIR (Pafos | Cyprus, 8/0), David MATEI (Universitatea Craiova, 2/0), Alexandru CICÂLDĂU (Universitatea Craiova, 39/4), Constantin GRAMENI (FC Rapid 1923, 0/0);
FORWARDS
Dennis MAN (PSV | Netherlands, 45/11), Darius OLARU (Union Saint-Gilloise | Belgium, 28/0), Olimpiu MORUȚAN (FC Rapid 1923, 18/1), Alexandru DOBRE (FC Rapid 1923, 7/0), David MICULESCU (FCSB, 8/0), Ianis HAGI (Alanyaspor | Turkey, 54/8), Florin TĂNASE (Omonia | Cyprus, 28/5), Valentin MIHĂILĂ (Çaykur Rizespor | Turkey, 36/5), Ștefan BAIARAM (Universitatea Craiova, 6/1), Rareș ILIE (Mantova | Italy, 0/0), Ianis STOICA (Estrela Amadora | Portugal, 0/0), Florinel COMAN (Al-Gharafa | Qatar, 22/3), Denis DRĂGUȘ (FCSB, 28/7), Louis MUNTEANU (D.C. United | USA, 6/3), Daniel BÎRLIGEA (Frosinone | Italy, 9/2), Denis ALIBEC (Farul Constanța, 45/6), Alexandru MUSI (Dinamo, 0/0).
There are some surprising names on this list, such as Rareș Ilie brought in from Mantova in the Italian second division as a striker, Andrei Mărginean from Dinamo who may be making his debut for the national team, Marius Corbu from Ferencváros, who is qualified for the Europa League with the Hungarians, or defender Tony Strata from Portugal, from the Vitoria de Guimaraes club.
All of Romania's matches in the Nations League will be LIVE text on SpotMedia.ro.
D.A.