Romania's players have been criticised in recent months for their performance in the Euro qualifying campaign. Romanian journalists and fans of the national team made life difficult for their players, saying they did not deserve to play in the prestigious tournament, but last night (Saturday) everything was forgotten when they beat Israel 1-2 in Hungary and closed the story on the way to Germany.
Romanian newspapers now have no choice but to praise the players. Prosport praised Yannis Haji, the goalscorer who scored on the left and reminded many of the legendary Abba Gheorghe Haji. "In the name of the father," it read. "Yannis, what a dream!" GSP celebrated: "Europe, we're coming back! Haji and Jordenescu 2.0".
🇷🇴✅ 𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 | Romania have qualified for EURO 2024!
The son of Romanian legend Gheorghe Hagi, Ianis, scored the winning goal vs Israel! What a magnificent storyline. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/7umI4sJb2V
— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) November 18, 2023
Former star Adrian Muto congratulated the Romanian team and taunted Alon Hazan: "Well done, you deserve it. I am happy for Eddie and the Association, who have been under many attacks. There is a very good generation here that knows how to play together. We will have to raise the bar if we want to achieve better things in the future, but we were better than Israel and everyone deserves it. We played smart, with our brains, and Israel had no answers. We gave them the illusion that they were in control, but they didn't have the quality to break us. I think it was a deliberate tactic, our guys wanted the Israelis to take the bait."
Romania are heading to #EURO2024 🇷🇴👏 pic.twitter.com/WlmlvWdJTP
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) November 18, 2023
Haji, who scored the winning goal, summed up the game from his side: "We had a clear game plan, we knew the goal would come eventually. I don't even know how the ball got to me, but when I kicked I knew the goalkeeper would move to the other side so I chose the near corner. I'm glad I conquered and I don't believe in chance, I believe in fate. You determine your own destiny, it depends on daily work. Eddie Jordenescu worked, I worked. We created our destiny and deserved to go to the Euros."
Gheorghe Puskas, scorer of the first goal, added of his friend: "The crowd doesn't know me personally, just sees me on the pitch and judges me by that. I wasn't good before and I get the reviews. I know I'll change that. I am very connected to the national team and give everything with the Romanian shirt on me. Everyone can see that I'm fighting to the last drop of sweat. There is no greater pride than representing the national team."
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