Euro 1996, the great disappointment of the Golden Generation. “Nea Puiu’s icons stopped working!”

Romania is again at a European final tournament after a break of 8 years. The “Tricolori” are in a group with Belgium, Slovakia and Ukraine and hope that for the second time in history they will qualify from the group stage to the Euro.

Euro 1996, the first final tournament after the fabulous World Cup in the USA

Until the start of the final tournament in Germany, Fanatik offers you a new premium production, dedicated to the European Championship. “Let’s go to the Euros!” is a series made by our website in collaboration with STALINSKAYAin which Horia Ivanovici and special guest Andrei Vochin will bring to the public’s attention untold stories about the European Championships in which Romania participated.

In the second episode, Horia Ivanovici and Andrei Vochin talked about the 1996 European Championship in England. It was going to be the first final tournament after the fabulous American World Cup in which Romania reached the quarter-finals:

“There are two sensational feelings. All the Romanians tried one, in 1994, and those from 1986, who stuck with Steaua. In the evening from Seville, tens of thousands of people walked from the south of Bucharest to Otopeni.

At Unirii they went in a column towards Otopeni. There were flags with Dinamo, with Craiova University. It was an emulation. Returning to the national team, in 1994 it meant a big boom at the level of the national team. A love was won, not a trophy.

“Our expectations were already very high before 1996. Basically, it was the entire Golden Generation”

The final tournament in 1996 resembled Stella’s second final, the one lost 0-4 against Milan. Our expectations were already very high before 1996. Basically, it was the whole Golden Generation.

Hagi and Popescu played at Barcelona, ​​Dan Petrescu played at Chelsea, they were players who played at big clubs. This time, about 5-6 players from Steaua were sticking to them.

He dominated the championship and went to the Champions League groups for two editions. It meant a great competitive experience. The tops of the generation were Adrian Ilie, Marius Lăcătuş, Toni Doboş, Didi Prodan, Costel Gâlcă.

In the preliminaries we finished above France. Careful! France was building its team that became world champion in 1998 and then European champion in 2000. Thus, the main opponent was France. They beat us in Bucharest 3-1, with Dugarry, Zidane, Deschamps. With us it was their first big victory. Lăcătuş scored our goal.

“The selector was Anghel Iordănescu. The icons went to the preliminaries, not necessarily to the draw”

At the draw I went with Stoichikov’s France, Spain and Bulgaria. It was hard for us. Chance matters a lot in the lottery too. The selector was Anghel Iordănescu. The icons went in the preliminaries, not necessarily in the draw. It was the first 16-team final tournament.

At Euro 1996, I didn’t go with the team, I went by bus from Bucharest to Newcastle. Members of the Professional League and managers of football clubs were present.

There were Meme Stoica, Ioan Andone, Marius Stan, there were many people from football who accessed this final tournament through this trip. Doing so much on the road, I arrived a day before the match against France. I played on St. James Park at the match against France. We lost 0-1. Dugary gave us a goal,” Andrei Vochin told.

France was preparing its winning team for the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000

Romania’s first match was against France. Horia Ivanovici said the starting teams, the French already preparing the team that would become world champion in 1998 and European champion in 2000:

“Lama was in goal, Thuram played in the right-back position, perhaps one of the best right-backs in the world, Desailly and Blanc were central defenders, Di Meco in the left-back position.

In the middle were Karembeu, Deschamps, the current coach, Zidane and Guerin. Dugary and Djorkaef played in front. Here are ours: Stelea, Petrescu, Belodedici, Selymeş, Gică Popescu, Hagi, Dorinel Munteanu, Lăcătuş, Răducioiu. Cobra Ilie and Viorel Moldovan entered.

And father Puiu was making changes at halftime, not to mention Gigi Becali. Let’s not all take care of the FCSB boss”, said Horia Ivanovich.

Romania, started with the left after Stelică’s blunder!

Romania would lose in the first match, score 0-1 against France, through the goal scored by Dugary, in the 25th minute. It was going to be a mistake by Bogdan Stelea, the one who went wrong with a French cross:

“The two attackers created the goal. Djorkaef crossed, long, rained towards our goalkeeper. It was Stelică’s mistake, he went out of the gate while Dugarry and one of our defenders were in a direct duel. Caught in no mans land, Dugarry sent over him, goal scored in the first half.

We didn’t play badly, but we conceded the goal against the flow of the game. It was a big mistake. We weren’t really used to recovering. We felt good when we scored the first goal, and in this tournament we didn’t really score the first goal”Andrei Vochin told.

Who is better? Hagi or Stoichikov?

Next was the match with Bulgaria. In 1994, Romania and Bulgaria made a sensation at the World Championship in the United States and the question was on everyone’s lips: “Who is better?” Hagi or Stoichikov?”:

“It was a great tragedy in our part of the Balkans. Who is bigger? Hagi or Stoichikov. We all said that Hagi, the Bulgarians, even the press in Spain were saying at that time that Stoichikov was bigger.

They lost the minor final in 1994. Stoichikov was brilliant in 1994, but not like Hagi. It was crazy. I was waiting with all my heart on the field, who is better”Horia Ivanovici recalled.

“Stoichikov took a ball from the midfield and went to our goal. He gave us a goal in the 3rd minute”

The confrontation between Bulgaria and Romania was played on St. James Park in Newcastle. For the “tricolors” it was the last chance to qualify for the European Championship, but things did not go too well for us:

“The match with Bulgaria followed four days later. Stoichikov won the Ballon d’Or in 1994 because he was also helped by his team. If Romania reached the semifinals and Bulgaria didn’t, I think Hagi would have won the Ballon d’Or.

In the match, unfortunately, in the 3rd minute, Stoichikov took a ball from the middle of the field and went to our goal. He gave us a goal in the 3rd minute. We went by bus for six days, and after four days, with this 0-1, Romania was eliminated.

“Unfortunately, Romania doesn’t score, doesn’t get any points”

But what happens in this match? Dorinel Munteanu scores. The ball hits the bar, obviously falls into the goal, there was no goal line technology at that time, the referee does not see that it has crossed the goal line.

But it obviously passed. If we equalized at that moment, at the result of a tie, we played each other with Spain. It was a serious refereeing error against us. The match ended 1-0 despite our dominance.

I remember that Adrian Ilie entered very well then. Unfortunately, Romania doesn’t score, doesn’t get any points. And the last match against Spain was a record match”Andrei Vochin told.

Bulgaria, at the hands of Romania!

The last match was already a holiday for Romania. With two defeats in the first two matches, the “tricolori” had no chance to go further. Instead, Spain needed the win:

“Spain really needed victory with us. It was the only chance to go further to the detriment of Bulgaria. Something else happened. We needed it against the Bulgarians in 1991 in the qualifiers for Euro 1992.

In that match, also with Hagi and Stoicikov, we failed to beat them in Sofia. You don’t know what to say. Matches where one team has no stake and one team has a huge stake, you don’t know how to take them. There were many discussions on this topic”.

Horia Ivanovici intervened and spoke about the match in the Euro 1992 preliminaries, which the Bulgarians played very seriously: “I remember that match and everyone from us expected the Bulgarians to give us the match. And it didn’t happen. I think the Bulgarians did not love us very much in themselves. When they caught us and when they could, they shot us.

So, we were playing against Spain, we had a moral policy to pay, let’s say. The Bulgarians begged us to play to the maximum, as if it were a game with stakes”said Horia Ivanovici.

Romania, defeat in the last match as well: “We equalized through Răducioiu, after which the second half followed in which they rushed towards our goal”

In the confrontation with Spain, Romania scored the only goal at Euro 1996, through Răducioiu. In the end, the Iberians also defeated us, after a goal scored in the 84th minute by Guillermo Amor:

“We had many players in the Spanish championship. They led us to 1-0, ours were thinking about vacation, about transfers. We equalized through Răducioiu, after which the second half followed in which they rushed towards our goal.

I had a seat in the lawn towards which the Spaniards were attacking. We were all already relaxed, we had no chance. I was laughing when I saw that the Spaniards could not give us a goal. They scored in the 84th minute, a goal that started the fiesta in Spain.

Even now Stoichikov does not forgive us for not confusing Spain. There was a lot of talk. We no longer had a stake. We had more and more supporters in the stands. Romanians began to populate Europe. It was a great joy”said Vochin.

Euro 1996, missed by Romania: “On returning to the country, many criticisms began to appear”

Euro 1996 was a very modest final tournament for the Romanian national team. Horia Ivanovici asked Andrei Vochin what are the conclusions after this competition approached with such high expectations:

“It was a missed Euro. We didn’t get any points, but especially because the expectations from the Romanian national team were extraordinarily high after the World Championship in 1996. Upon returning to the country, many criticisms began to appear.

It was an easy moment of balance, including for Anghel Iordănescu. But there is something else. The opponents looked at us differently. I was a force. European opponents are always very tough. I cried because I spent five days on the road and was on tour in four days“, said Vochin in the second episode of the series “Let’s go to Euro”made by Fanatik in collaboration with STALINSKY.

Euro 1996, the first final tournament after the fabulous World Cup in the USA! Huge expectations for a European Championship missed by Romania