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Romania vs. Northern Ireland Match Preview: A friendly international match between Romania and Northern Ireland takes place in Bucharest on Friday evening to kick off their 2024 calendars.
The visitors are trying to regain some form ahead of the upcoming UEFA Nations League campaign in September, while the hosts are still getting ready for Euro 2024.
It is fair to say that Michael O’Neill’s first qualification campaign back with Northern Ireland was somewhat of a damp squib, even with his return as manager.
They were drawn into perhaps the strongest group possible, which included Denmark, Slovenia, Finland, Kazakhstan, and San Marino. However, they were only able to defeat San Marino both at home and away before facing Denmark in Belfast on the last matchday.
Though they should be commended for their performance, Northern Ireland’s 2-0 win over the group winners should be considered a dead rubber for both teams.
Despite losing their remaining seven games, six of which resulted in them failing to register a point, Northern Ireland still finished nine points outside of fourth position.
After just five wins from 18 games in all competitions during a two-year period—the only times they have avoided losses away from home were in Luxembourg, Cyprus, and San Marino—O’Neill is now faced with the task of coming up with fresh ideas.
That emphasises how difficult the task will be for Northern Ireland before their journey to Romania, where they will be playing in only their fourth major tournament since the year 2000.
Every one of the appearances has occurred during the European Championships; the most recent manager to lead Romania to that point is Edward Iordanescu.
Iordanescu’s team has not lost since a 2-1 friendly loss to Slovenia back in November 2022, and they are presently enjoying an 11-match winning streak in all competitions.
Despite having four draws in a qualifying group that included Israel, Belarus, Kosovo, Switzerland, and Andorra, they finished first thanks to four victories out of five, including a victory over Switzerland on the penultimate matchday of the season.
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Since then, the Tricolors have been grouped favourably with Belgium, Slovakia, and a playoff-winning team at Euro 2024, although Iordanescu’s primary priorities are friendlies against Colombia and Northern Ireland.
Romania form (all competitions):
D W D W W W
Northern Ireland form (all competitions):
L L W L L W
Iordanescu may make changes to his Romanian starting lineup even if the same 11 players who began the victory over Switzerland are available.
Both Ianis Hagi and George Puscas are likely to start again in attacking roles, while midfielder Adrian Sut and defender Bogdan Racovitan both are hoping to make their debuts at some point during the game.
Another option for the centre of the pitch would be to call up the seasoned Razvan Marin.
Jordan Thompson is expected to be brought back into the starting lineup in light of Dale Taylor’s absence from the Northern Ireland team.
Conor Bradley of Liverpool should also return to the right-back position in a lineup that might mostly not change in light of their impressive performance against Denmark in November.
Jamie Reid, Caolan Boyd-Munce, and Aaron Donnelly will all be hoping to receive their first cap a few minutes into the match.
Romania possible starting lineup:
Moldovan; Ratiu, Burca, Dragusin, Bancu; Cicaldau, M.Marin, Stanciu; Hagi, Puscas, Coman
Northern Ireland possible starting lineup:
Hazard; Bradley, McNair, Toal, Brown, Lewis; Thompson, Charles, Saville; Price; Charles
Our prediction for this match 3-1 or 2-0 won by romania
