Daniel Pancu: "Ukraine was defeated by the weakest generation in the history of Romanian soccer. Paradox."

Former Romania striker Daniel Pancu, who now coaches the youth national team (U-20) of his country, commented on the sensational result of the match of the 1st round of the group stage of Euro-2024 Romania - Ukraine (3:0).

"In soccer without a created team you can't achieve anything. And the Romanian national team now has such a team. And here is the result: the Ukraine national team was defeated by the weakest generation in the history of Romanian soccer. The weakest on paper, of course.

If you compare the current generation with my generation, the class of players there was 10 levels higher. I am referring to the clubs for which the Romanian national team players played then. But the current players, without having big-name teams behind them, still prove that it is possible to achieve results with them.

Remember the period of 2003-2005. Back then, Romanian players played in the Champions League. Contra reached the final, Rats also played all the time. That is, Romanians were playing at the highest level in Europe at that time.

Do you know how many players from the Romanian national team in the match with Ukraine have experience of playing in European competitions? Two: Bancu and Coman. But even then, they were not even able to reach the group stage of the Conference League with their teams last season.

Therefore, what the current Romanian national team has achieved is a paradox. And in this regard, no one can dispute the merits of Edward Iordanescu (head coach of the Romanian national team - ed.). Without the motivation that he instilled in the players, it was impossible to achieve such success. And luck also comes only after a lot of hard work," DigiSport quoted Pancu as saying.

Translation and stylistic adaptation - Dynamo.kiev.ua, when using the material hyperlink is mandatory!