Sports Mole previews Friday’s friendly clash between Romania and Liechtenstein, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Romania will round off their preparations for this summer’s European Championship with a clash against Liechtenstein in Bucharest on Friday night.
The hosts drew 0-0 with Bulgaria in their last friendly fixture on Tuesday, while the visitors will enter the contest off the back of a 3-0 defeat to Albania on Monday.
Match preview
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Romania were impressive during their Euro 2024 qualification campaign, picking up 22 points from their 10 matches to top Group I, five points ahead of second-placed Switzerland.
The Tricolours are therefore preparing to take part in the finals of a European Championship for the sixth time, with their best-ever performance coming in 2000, when they reached the quarter-finals.
Edward Iordanescu‘s side have played three times since their final Euro 2024 qualification future, drawing 1-1 with Northern Ireland before losing 3-2 to Colombia back in March.
Romania will enter this match off the back of a goalless draw with Bulgaria, and the clash with Lichtenstein will represent their final fixture before competing in the European Championship.
The Tricolours will open their Group E challenge against Ukraine on June 17, before taking on Belgium and Slovakia, and it will be fascinating to see how they perform this summer, having gone through their qualification campaign for the tournament unbeaten, conceding just five times in their 10 games.
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Liechtenstein, meanwhile, will enter this match off the back of a 3-0 defeat to Albania on Monday, which followed a 1-1 draw with Latvia in a friendly back in March.
The Blue-Reds struggled during their Euro 2024 qualification campaign, losing all 10 of their fixtures, scoring just once and conceding 28 times in the process.
Liechtenstein have not been victorious since a 2-1 success over Luxembourg in a friendly back in October 2020, but their 1-1 draw with Latvia on March 26 did at least end a 24-game losing run in all competitions.
Konrad Funfstuck‘s side will be back in competitive action at the start of September against San Marino, with their UEFA Nations League campaign beginning.
Liechtenstein have faced Romania on six previous occasions, losing all six of those matches, including a 2-0 reverse when the two sides last locked horns in a 2022 World Cup qualifier in November 2021.
Romania friendly form:
Romania form (all competitions):
Liechtenstein friendly form:
Liechtenstein form (all competitions):
Team News
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Romania head coach Iordanescu will make changes to the side that started against Bulgaria last time out, with one of those alterations likely to come at centre-forward, with George Puscas set to come in.
Puscas was an unused substitute against Bulgaria, but he has scored 11 times for his country, and the 28-year-old is expected to start in the final third of the field on Friday night.
There is likely to be a 70th cap for the captain Nicolae Stanciu, while Parma’s Denis Man should also retain his spot in midfield for the home side in this contest.
As for Liechtenstein, Dennis Salanovic is set to win his 59th cap, with the 28-year-old, who has scored four times for his national side, expected to feature at centre-forward.
There is a lot of experience in the Liechtenstein squad, including Sandro Wolfinger, who has been capped on 64 occasions, and Maximilian Goppel, who has played 62 times for the national side.
Three players will be bidding to make their debuts for Liechtenstein, including 17-year-old Jonas Weissenhofer, who plays his club football for FC Vaduz.
Romania possible starting lineup:
Nita; Ratiu, Dragusin, Rus, Bancu; R Marin, Hagi; Man, Stanciu, Coman; Puscas
Liechtenstein possible starting lineup:
Ospelt; Goppel, Beck, Traper, Graber; Wolfinger, Sele, Meier, Buchel; Salanovic, Ospelt
We say: Romania 3-0 Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein have conceded eight twice and seven once in their previous six games with Romania, but the last two fixtures have only finished 2-0. We are not expecting a particularly high score on Friday, but it would be a shock if Romania were not comfortably victorious in this international friendly.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.