FK Csíkszereda suffered a crushing defeat at Unirea Slobozia’s temporary home in Clinceni, in the 2nd round of the Superliga regular season.
FK Csíkszereda suffered a crushing defeat at Unirea Slobozia’s temporary home in Clinceni, in the 2nd round of the Superliga regular season.
The result speaks for itself: a 6–1 loss doesn’t need much explanation, even though we could list several complicating factors. The dreadful condition of the pitch at Clinceni Arena certainly didn’t help — on the contrary, it actively contributed to the mistakes that led to several goals — and the 37°C measured at kickoff in the shade was far from ideal football weather.
Of course, our opponents had to cope with the same conditions, so we cannot blame only those. And the match started well for us: Rusu fouled Babati in the box, and Dolny converted the awarded penalty in the 22nd minute: 0–1.
For the first half-hour it seemed we could even take home the win, but in the 31st minute everything changed: Palmeș failed to control a pass from Pap at the edge of the box, then, trying to recover, he stomped on Afalna’s shin. After a VAR check, referee Flueran not only awarded a penalty against us but — rightly — also sent off Palmeș. Purece converted the penalty, Pap got a touch but couldn’t save it. To make things worse, after another defensive error, Aganovic curled a free kick into Pap’s goal at the very end of first-half stoppage time, leaving us behind at halftime, with no realistic option to sit back and defend a draw.
In the second half, coach Ilyés didn’t field a defensive lineup either, trying to strengthen our attack with every substitution. But in the 55th minute Dulcea dribbled through and fired into the far corner: 3–1. After that, we seemed to give up mentally, and Slobozia showed no mercy: they added three more goals (actually four, but the last one was ruled out for offside). The only positive was Gergely Alpár making his debut in the top flight. The handful of travelling fans also gave their all, loudly cheering their favourites for nearly the entire match and greeting and encouraging the players even after the final whistle: it wasn’t their fault.
After the match, head coach Ilyés Róbert did not hide his disappointment:
"There is no explanation; a result like this says it all. Maybe we’re not ready for the Superliga yet, or maybe we’re too naive. Because in the first 20–30 minutes we played organized, took the lead, didn’t even allow the opponents to shoot on target. Before the game I told the boys to avoid passes through the centre because the pitch there was like a swamp, completely uneven, and yet that’s where we made the mistake — the ball bounced awkwardly on that part and we topped it off with the foul that got us the red card. Playing a man down made everything very difficult, even though the opponents were probably at our level in terms of skill. But we got a big lesson; almost every one of their attacks ended in a goal," he assessed.
"This defeat has to make us think. When we get home, we have to sit down with the management and see whether the squad is good enough for this league or whether we need to make more transfers," he added.
Superliga, regular season, Round 2
Unirea Slobozia–FK Csíkszereda 6–1 (2–1)
Referees: Flueran Viorel Nicușor (Craiova), Ghinguleac Radu Adrian (Bucharest), Vișan Florian Alexandru (Galați). Fourth official: Mihuleac Gabriel (Iași)
Goalscorers: Purece (34 – pen.), Aganovic (45+7, 72), Dulcea (55), Rotund (85), Said (90) / Dolny (22 – pen.)
Red card: Palmeș (33)
Unirea Slobozia: Rusu Denis – Ibrian, Dinu, Antoche, Șerbănică – Purece, Hamdiji, Aganovic – Florescu, Dulcea, Afalna
FK Csíkszereda: Pap – Kelemen, Hegedűs, Palmeș – Gál-Andrezly, Végh, Bödő, Ferenczi – Anderson, Dolny, Babati
Head coaches: Ion Vlădoiu / Ilyés Róbert
Rédai Attila