Cosmin Contra has urged his players to find an early goal as Romania are looking to score an emphatic victory over Malta to step up their fight for a place in the Euro 2020 finals next summer.
The Romanians head into this evening’s match over Malta desperate for the three points after losing some valuable ground after their midweek 2-1 defeat to Spain in Bucharest.
That defeat saw the team slip to fourth place in the group on seven points, eight adrift of leaders Spain, three behind second-placed Sweden with Norway in third place on eight points.
Thursday’s defeat to Spain has inevitably piled up the pressure on Contra who is seeking to lead the team to their second successive appearance in a European Championship finals.
The Romanians will be confident of picking maximum points against Malta, especially after their sparkling performance at the National Stadium last June when they cruised to a 4-0 win but Contra is taking nothing foregranted.
“This is a very important match for us,” the Romania coach told a news conference.
“We need to have a serious approach for the game and try and take control right from the start. We will go on the offensive right from the start to try and get an early goal that would set us up nicely.
“I remember the match in Malta when we managed to score after very few minutes and that made our path easier towards a convincing victory.
“Malta are a very organized side who are able to move from one tactical system to another and who like to operate a lot on the counter attack so we need to be cautious.
“Our objective has to be not only to win the match but also try to score a lot of goals to try and boost our goal difference record as that could come up handy at the end of the qualifying campaign.”
The Romanian coach was severely criticized by his country’s media for the tactics used against Spain when he fielded a five-man defence to try and contain the Spanish Armada.
But the former Milan wing-back said that he had no regrets.
“When preparing for the match against Spain I analysed their matches since 2016 and I concluded that the only teams who managed to cause any problems to them have all used a five-man defence,” he said.
“Spain are a very talented side who in recent years have scored a lot of goals against various teams. Last year they put six past Croatia while against both Sweden and Norway they created six or seven clear-cut chances even though they only converted two of them.
“You cannot criticise me for trying to use a system that has worked well to try and close as much as possible any spaces for the Spanish team. Our biggest problem against Spain was that we struggled to recover the ball and launch quick counter attacks.
“Now that is in the past and we should focus on our remaining matches. We have four finals coming up and we need to win them all to qualify – starting against Malta.”
Romania’s aspirations of reaching the Euro 2020 finals could also be hampered by the poor behavious of their fans. In fact the Romanian FA has been charged by UEFA for the improper behaviour of their supporters during their defeat against Spain after there were two instances where fans invaded the pitch while there were also racist chants against Hungary.
They face a UEFA hearing on September 20 which could see them host their next home matches against Sweden and Norway behind closed doors.
“My message to the fans for the Malta match is always the same. If we face our next two home matches against Sweden and Norway in front of empty stands it would put us under a huge disadvantage,” Contra said.
“I hope they will behave properly as it doesn’t reflect well on our nation.”