Many chances were lost, many goals were scored, we went through difficult moments, but here we have a decisive 90 minutes for the national team to qualify for the 2024 European Championship in Germany. We travel to Hungary on Saturday to get a crucial point. to the final tournament, against Israel, in a match where the tricolor will feel the energy of millions and millions of Romanians. They include Ioan Andone, Florin Raduciu, Adrian Ilieu and Benel Nicolice, four former footballers who have successfully completed qualifying campaigns and represented Romania at the SuperEURO! They are Superbet Ambassadors and SuperSocial Influencers and shout in unison: BE LIKE US, let’s go to the EURO!

Israel – Romania in the top matches of the European qualifying tournament!

Memories that Ioan Andone carries in his soul

The past is the essence of a valuable present for a better future, and the 1984 European qualifiers were a true turning point for Romanian football. The Dynamo legend was on the field in important matches and still remembers well the moments from the matches against Sweden (2-0), Italy (1-0) and Czechoslovakia (1-1), a generation in which the late Misha Klein, Bologna, Balachi or Kemataru were among the peaks:

“For me, the first thought is Sweden, but not only because me and Misha Klein scored, but because we have never in history beaten Sweden at national team level. What comes to my mind is that me and Klein, that we were in Hunedoara , we both managed to score and we both did it from Ilie Balachi’s passes! You can see from the qualification that it was a special memory for me. Apart from the matches I played in the starting team, the national team also played extremely well. 70,000 spectators at the 23 August stadium, many moments, but this one comes to mind from the qualification, resembles “Falkosul”.

The match in Bratislava with 7,000 compatriots and Geolgeu’s goal in the 68th minute is also iconic: “Since the last match, against Slovakia, there have not been so many Romanians on the street until 1989, I think in any given match there are about 6-7,000 Romanians in Bratislava. I didn’t play in that match, but I remember the team, how they played… You reached the top 8 in Europe, there were some extraordinary things. Then I remember that I was injured during the preparation for the match and was not in the squad. the battle that was, that it was the battle of a generation, we had already qualified in 1970 for the World Cup, and it was a historic qualification for our national team. The joy, we all thought would be in France, beautiful things, and I want the current players to experience that joy and us ex-players to enjoy it with them. I really want!”, says Andone.

Come to SuperSocial and follow Ioan Andone, Florin Raduca, Adrian Ily and Benel Nicolice!

At the time when Raduchoui and Ilye “whistled” in the previous match

The tension of 1984 did not reappear in the preliminary matches of 1996, when Romania was still under the banner of the American dream and had already turned into a continental power. The group with France, Poland and Slovakia did not cause us any problems, and the scorer of those previous matches, Florin Reduchuyu, with five goals, felt almost no emotions:

“The first moment that comes to my mind is the atmosphere in Genc during the match against Poland, a strong opponent. I scored the first goal with my left foot, something new for me. It was not a decisive match against Slovakia because we had already qualified for three matches. And unfortunately I didn’t play that match against Slovakia because I was injured, I had pubalgia. We had already qualified, we were too good, but I didn’t live to that point because I was injured.” , – says the Big Blonde of the Golden Generation many years later.

And the 1996 campaign was doubly similar before EURO 2000, with the emotional moment of Hyke Hagi’s return to the tricolor. A key member of that team, Adrian Ealy, expects the same results from the current team. He wants them in Germany, he wants them in the SuperEURO!

Benel Nicolice: “Representing Romania at the European Championship was the greatest achievement in my career!”

After the glorious generation of Hagi and Popescu walked off the stage in front of Italy, in the European quarter-finals in Belgium and Holland, I waited eight years to get tickets to Austria and Switzerland. We did it with Mutu as the leader, Pitsurke on the bench, with 29 points, first place in the group and Goyan’s goal against the Dutch. A member of this group, Benel Nikolice, puts participation in the European Championship first in the list of football achievements after the UEFA semi-final against Middlesbrough:

“I remember we faced very strong teams, Holland and Bulgaria. We were confident and did everything to win, it was a big achievement for us because then we were playing against the best players from Real Madrid or Barcelona. I lived everything to the fullest, there were very big emotions. The biggest achievement in my life as a footballer was to represent Romania at the European Championship. The satisfaction was even greater because we finished in first place in the group!” , – the former right midfielder told us.

The short historical intermezzo is over. Now we can only scream “BE LIKE THEM, COME TO THE EUROS!”.

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