Coach: Ovidiuu Mihai Mihaila
Key Players: Ionut Nistor Ionita (Right Wing), Andrei Nicusor Negru (Left Wing)
Road to Qualification: Group 6 winners – Europe qualification
History in Tournament: 1977: 11th, 1979-1985: DNQ, 1987: 5th, 1989: 8th, 1991: 6th, 1993: 8th, 1995: 17th, 1997-2003: DNQ, 2005: 6th, 2007-2013: DNQ
Overview:
Romania will participate in the Men’s Junior World Championship for the first time in ten years in 2015 after topping their group at the Qualification Europe held in January. In the qualification phase they defeated Slovenia and Bulgaria, and pulled off a surprise draw with Croatia, ultimately booking their ticket to Brazil courtesy of goal difference.
Romania’s qualification over Croatia was quite the upset as the Balkan team won the silver medal at the Men’s Youth World Championship 2013. With most of the 2013 Under 19 squad now playing in the junior age group, Croatia would have been medal favourites in Brazil, which almost certainly means Romania present a serious threat to their Group B opponents come July.
Group B is a tough one, with 2013 Junior Men’s World Championship silver medallists and fourth-ranked team at the 2013 Youth Men’s World Championship: Spain, Serbia, Qatar, who are proving to be an up-and-coming nation to watch out for after their surprise finals appearance at the 2015 Men’s World Championship, Angola and Portugal. With Romania showing they are in good form, Group B could end up being one of the most hotly contested at the tournament.
Romania’s game is dominated by their wings, with right wing Ionut Nistor Ionita and left wing Andrei Nicusor Negru finishing the qualification phase as the team’s top scorers. Ionita recorded 22 goals in three games to rank fifth on the top scorers list, while Negru had 16. Negru drew with Brazil’s Jose Guilherme Toledo as the highest scorer at the 2013 Men’s Youth World Championship where he scored 64 goals.
Group at Brazil 2015:
Group B: Spain, Romania, Serbia, Qatar, Angola and Portugal
Games at Brazil 2015:
All times local
Monday 20 July: ROU-POR (18:30)
Wednesday 22 July: QAT-ROU (16:15)
Thursday 23 July: ROU-SRB (18:30)
Saturday 25 July: ROU-ANG (15:30)
Sunday 26 July: ESP-ROU (20:45)