Romanian national team footballers and coach Cosmin Contra did not hide that they went to Vilnius for three points. The Romanians, playing in the European Nations League match against the Lithuanian national team on Thursday, achieved their goal and took three points, but the guests had to get very excited. The goal that determined the victory of the Romanian national team 2:1 was scored by Alexandru Maxim only during added time, reported lrytas.lt.
The winning goal secured A. Maxim a place on the front pages of Romanian sports newspapers, and a word almost matching his surname was repeated in the headlines.
"Maximal drama! 'Tricolors' saved the victory in added time! Final with Serbia on Sunday for first place," - after the last referee's whistle, it was easier to breathe for the sports newspaper "Gazeta Sporturilor".
"Maximal victory in Vilnius! 'Tricolors' will fight with Serbia for first place," - wrote another sports publication "Fanatik". "Wonderful victory in the last second," rejoiced the jurnalul.ro website.
However, the Romanian media saw more negative things than positive in Vilnius on Thursday. "Romania barely escaped shame in Vilnius, playing against a significantly lower level team. 'Tricolors' savior A. Maxim rose from the bench, as he did at his club 'Mainz'," wrote "Libertatea".
Romanian football analysts were also angry that two players received their second yellow cards, meaning they will have to miss an even more challenging match against Serbia. Among the punished was Alex Chipciu, the author of the first goal. "It will be interesting to see how C. Contra will handle the situation, as there is no central midfielder on the bench," pondered "Gazeta Sporturilor".
"Fanatik" wrote before the match that "the Lithuanian national team plays weakly" and listed the teams that our team has lost to in recent years. As a result, an easier victory was expected, but after the match, some Romanian football specialists missed a smarter tactic.
"The most important thing is that we won, but to be honest, I expected better play. The victory was fought for by a hair, and if we play like this against the Serbians, we will have big problems. Coach C. Contra was again saved by successful substitutions, but this cannot continue all the time," quoted "Fanatik" former Romanian national team assistant coach Viorel Moldovan.
The Romanian media noted that the Romanian national team had been waiting for a victory in official matches for a very long time - even two years. The last time the Romanians won three points was when they crushed Armenia 5:0 in the 2016 World Cup qualifiers in October. However, the spirits of the Romanians were brightened by the friendly matches won, where last year at the end and this year in summer, they defeated strong teams from Turkey, Sweden, and Chile.
By the way, the Lithuanians also have not won any official matches for two years - since they somehow managed to beat Malta 2:0 at home in October 2016.
Rolandas V. Eidvilas, lrytas.lt
