After a disappointing start to World Cup qualifying, Romania will look to get their campaign up and running when they visit Serravalle to face minnows San Marino on Monday night.
Mircea Lucescu‘s side were stunned at home by Bosnia-Herzegovina on Friday night, while San Marino were beaten in Cyprus on the same night.
Match preview
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In a ruthlessly difficult qualifying format where only the group winners will advance to the World Cup, dropping points at home was the worst possible start for Romania on Friday night.
Especially when that defeat came against a Bosnian side that had not won in 12 matches, and are far from the favourites to win the section, with Austria also to come in June.
Prior to Friday, and knowing that Austria will not begin their qualifying campaign until the summer due to their Nations League commitments, Romania would have seen this week’s fixtures as a great opportunity to get a head start ahead of Ralf Rangnick‘s side, but those plans took a big hit.
Confidence will have been high after the Tricolorii won their group at Euro 2024 last summer, qualifying for that tournament unbeaten, and cruising to promotion in the UEFA Nations League during the autumn, winning all six matches.
The visitors should be able to restore that confidence against the weakest team in the section here, but they will not top the group regardless of the result, given that Bosnia and Cyprus face each other on matchday two.
Lucescu will know his side are already playing catch up, as they seek to qualify for a first World Cup this century, and reaching one hosted by USA will bring back special memories of the golden era they enjoyed in the mid-1990s, when they reached the quarter-finals of USA 94.
This will be just a third competitive meeting between these two nations, with both previous clashes coming in Euro 92 qualifying, when Romania won home and away by a combined score of 9-1.
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Promotion to League C of the Nations League is about as good as it is going to get for San Marino, who were brought back down to earth on Friday night in Cyprus.
In this sort of company, there is no chance Roberto Cevoli‘s men will be able to compete, but after winning promotion in the Nations League, that does mean there is a chance they will earn a World Cup playoff spot, regardless of how they perform in Group H.
Cyprus are the only nation in the group who San Marino will feel they had a chance of taking something against, so it already looks likely that they will lose all of their qualifiers, like they have in all previous five campaigns.
In 163 qualifiers for the World Cup and the Euros, San Marino have still never won, and they have drawn just three, with the last coming at home to Estonia 11 years ago.
Team News
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San Marino are without Michael Battistini in midfield, while defender Simone Franciosi has been left out, along with Enrico Golinucci, who was an unused sub in both games in November.
Young Sassuolo twins Giacomo Benvenuti and Tommaso Benvenuti are both in the squad again and could feature alongside each other at the back, in what could be a more defensive XI compared to the one that faced Cyprus.
Captain Matteo Vitaioli was unused on Friday, but an appearance here will take the attacker to within two caps of the century mark.
Despite being under new management, Lucescu has stuck with the same squad that performed well at Euro 2024, but they are without Radu Dragusin, whose season is over after an ACL injury sustained at the start of the year.
Cristian Manea, Valentin Mihaila and Darius Olaru are also absent due to injury, while George Puscas has been unable to win his place in the squad back, despite some good recent form at Bodrumspor.
Friday’s defeat could see some tinkering to the starting XI, especially in attack where Romania were wasteful, so the likes of Alexandru Mitrita and Ianis Hagi could come into the side.
San Marino possible starting lineup:
Colombo; Fabbri, Cevoli, G Benvenuti, T Benvenuti, Tosi; Contadini, A Golinucci, Capicchioni, Berardi; Nanni
Romania possible starting lineup:
Nita; Ratiu, Popescu, Burca, Bancu; R Marin, M Marin, Stanciu; Mitrita, Dragus, Hagi
We say: San Marino 0-4 Romania
San Marino have certainly improved from the side that would rack up heavy defeats on a regular basis, but there is next-to-no chance of them being competitive in this one, and back-to-back defeats loom.
Romania will want a routine victory by a healthy margin of goals to make up for Friday’s defeat, and they have the talent to do so, in what should be an easy evening for the visitors.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
