[carlyluvsunited]

Romania 3-0 Russia

Romania beat fellow UEFA EURO 2008™ contenders Russia 3-0 in a friendly in
Bucharest on Wednesday with goals from strikers Ciprian Marica, Daniel Niculae
and Marius Niculae.

Romania initially struggled against a team drawn entirely from the Russian
Premier-Liga and it took the hosts until the stroke of half-time to break the
deadlock through VfB Stuttgart forward Marica. Coach Victor Piþurcã took off
Adrian Mutu and Cristian Chivu at the break and substitute Daniel Niculae made it
2-0 after 61 minutes before Marius Niculae completed the scoring with a header
in the 76th.

Debutants

In contrast to Guus Hiddink – who handed first caps to FC Moskva striker Roman
Adamov and the versatile FC Zenit St. Petersburg player Roman Shirokov –
Piþurcã had virtually a full deck to choose from, although Marius Popa did feature
in goal for the first time as regular No1 Bogdan Lobont was unwell. The 29-year
-old custodian had to be alert to deny Vladimir Bystrov following a rapid Russia
counterattack, yet Romania gradually imposed their authority and took the lead
when Marica teased his way past three defenders before placing the ball in the
far corner.

Niculaes score

Russia might have equalised immediately had Bystov connected with an inviting
cross from danger man Yuri Zhirkov, but that was about as good as it got for
Hiddink's men. Romania found the target twice more without reply after half-time.
Vasili Berezutski needlessly conceded possession for the first of those strikes,
scored by Daniel Niculae, before namesake Marius – having just hit the
woodwork along with Rãzvan Cociº – headed in the second from Bãnel Nicoliþã's
right-wing centre.