Ceahlaul Piatra-Neamt - Universitatea Craiova 2-1

The nightmare of all Oltenians has a name: Zoran Filipovici. So was 27 years ago when this Montenegrin football player was Benfica's striker and his goal stoped Universitatea Craiova from its road to the UEFA Cup's final act. 

Now, Zoran Filipovici is the coach of Ceahlaul Piatra-Neamt and he ruined the debut of Eugen Trica as Craiova's coach. Mark Wotte was replaced by Trica after some missunderstandings with the administrative stuff of Universitatea Craiova.

In the first half, the guests made Villadsen to think that he is a gret goalkeeper. Costea II ('23) and Dina ('33) remained alone with the Dane, but he blocked them. Although the visitors did not forgive him third time. Mihai Costea ('65) exploited Dina's intelligent pass and scored for 0-1.

When the cards seemed to be made, Filipovici fortunate sent Ibrahim in the field and this, after half minute scored for a draw after a Barcauan's perfect pass. Lung jr saved once again in front of Ibrahim but he had to give up in the last minute of the game, when Cebotaru scored for Ceahlaul's victory. Only one second earlier, Craciun was all alone in front of Villadsen but he could not beat the goalkeeper fron Piatra-Neamt.

"Football has changed enormously from 1983, when I have played against Universitatea. Craiova do not deserve the relegation, there are teams are much worse than them". Zoran Filipovic - Ceahlaul's coach

Ovidiu Dananae returned in the field after almost nine months from the serious knee injury he suffered in a friendly game played by Romania against Hungary. He was replaced in the 74th minute of this game.

Our team: Lung – Dănănae ('74 Firtulescu), V. Găman, Barbu, Bălace - Prepeliţă, Bărboianu, Dilevski, Gângioveanu - Dina ('89 Craciun), M. Costea ('71 A. Piturca)

Universitatea Craiova - Unirea Alba Iulia 1-3

Valentin Iliev was red carded in the 79th minute of the game for a fault against Lazar and he will miss in the next match.

Mihai Dina scored for Universitatea Craiova in the 39th minute of the game.

Our team: Lung - Buleică ('32 Badoi), V. Găman, Iliev, Bălace - Prepeliţă, Barbu ('62 Gangioveanu), Dilevski, Firţulescu ('25 Craciun) - Dina, M. Costea

Universitatea Craiova - Unirea Urziceni 1-4

For every fan of Universitatea Craiova it was a crazy game. Universitatea had in the field a children "invasion", while Unirea Urziceni allowed to keep on the bench people who scored in Champions League.

The only ones who seemed to care about this were Craiova's players, who started the game with a lot of enthusiasm. This did not last to long because at the first goal phase, the champions opened the score. Maftei centered and Bilaşco, alone in the penalty area, scored by a head strike. It was the 8th minute of the game and everything seemed to be lost for Oltenia.

Six minutes later Firţulescu had a big chance to chang this game's result. Piturca was excellent and passed to this midfielder, but he targeted from 12 meters the oposite goalkeeper. Guests have understood the warning and focused more on defensive. They closed all the spaces toward Grigore's goal and nothing important happened until breaktime.

After the break, Mark Wotte forced the attack and he changed Paunovic for Mihai Costea. But Ron Levy made decisive moves. All his 3 reserves scored in this game. Rusescu ('71), Pădureţu ('81) and Semedo (88) ruined holiday in Severin. Craiova inserted a goal between the first two goals of Urziceni, but the great success of Gângioveanu ('75), has not mattered until artistic impression.

Our team: Merlier - Buleică, V. Găman, R. Barbu, Bălace - Prepeliţă, Bărboianu, Paunovici ('46 M. Costea), Firţulescu ('58 Gangioveanu) - Piţurcă jr. ('68 Craciun), Dina

FC Vaslui - Universitatea Craiova 0-1

After an excellent match in Romanian Cup against Brasov, Fortuna left Vaslui and turned her face to Craiova, a team struggling to stay in Liga I.

From the begining of the game in Vaslui hostilities was as clearly as possible: hosts in outposts, guests "in the box", hoping for a lucky strike back. Pavlovic had a head strike in the 19th minute but he missed, Lucian Sânmărtean tried also to beat Lung jr in 41st minute but he failed from 10 meters.

In front of a little disoriented and not so incisive team, Lacatus' players did not succeded to manage the first half of the game. In the 71st minute Piturca escaped from defenders of Vaslui marking and scored in the goal of Kuciak. Moldavian arena came in complete silence. Note that before this goal, Wotte wanted to change Piturca, but the referee Robert Dumitru did not allow the change. As expected, the hosts finished the game on the offensive, but they were stuck in front of Craiova's goal. Costly scored once, but from an offside position, and thus missed a good chance to bring his team on the second post in the table. Lung jr. that was redcarded in extra time for the second yellow card, but Universitatea Craiova's goal was succesfully defended by Mihai Dina who got the goalkeeper's gloves and T-shirt.

Craiova was supported by a single fan in Vaslui. At the end of the game, all the players celebrated this precious victory together with this unique supporter. Wotte's football players have plunged on the grass in front of him, and after they have climbed the fence and sang along with the only man who had a sit in the reserved for guests area.

Our team: Lung - Bărboianu, V. Găman, Iliev ('80 Buleica), Buşu - Prepeliţă, Barbu, Dilevski ('75 I. Popescu), Gângioveanu ('46 Firtulescu) - Dina, Piţurcă

Universitatea Craiova - Astra Ploiesti 1-0

Craiova climbed to 10th place in the table after victory against Astra

Mihai Dina was the scorer of our goal.

Craiova approached with fear the game against Astra Ploiesti. Both teams played carefully and showed an ugly football in the first half. It was a blind fight between 22 players. The biggest event of the first part belonged Nicolo Napoli's team. He was Universitatea Craiova's trainer in the last season. And now he is preparing Astra Ploiesti. Liviu Ganea perfectly served Gussev ('28) but this could not shot. Craiova replied by Gîngioveanu but his shot missed the goal('31).

Second round was a carbon copy of the first 45 minutes. Two teams scared by the importance of the game. It was a pressure which affected the result. They tried more to block each other than to attack.

The goal of Dina came in the 72nd minute after a serious error of Astra's defense. Craiova speculated this, and the team of Napoli received first goal of the game. Craciun perfectly served Dina who resumed in the net from 4 meters of the goal.

In the end of the game, Balace get two yellow cards and get eliminated. Oprsal had a head shot but this was over the target ('81). Mihai Costea had the chance to score one more goal for Craiova but he shot in Miron from a good good position. In the 89th minute of the game, Nicolo Napoli was sent off from Astra's bench by the referee Cristi Balaj. He vehemently protested at an unseen foul by the referee. Craiova won three points and is now more relaxed in the fight to resist in the first football league.

Our team: Lung – Buleică, V. Găman, Iliev, Bălace - Prepeliţă, Bărboianu, Trică ('54 Craciun, '82 R. Barbu), Gângioveanu ('57 Firtulescu) - M. Costea, Dina

Unirea Alba Iulia - Universitatea Craiova 2-0

End of season with problems for Craiova.

Transylvanians took advantage of eliminating Marius Ologu and they won thanks to two goals scored by Selagea .

Wotte's Craiova resembles a patient kept alive by machines only. Universitatea's state of coma worsen gradually from stage to stage.

Without both Costea brothers, Trica, Barboianu and Gîngioveanu, all absent for various reasons, it was not Universitatea the team which moved in the first quarter hour of the match. Balto ('6) created the first dangerous situation, but he delayed shooting and was blocked by Iliev. Lung Jr showed then that he inherited from his father qualities of great goalkeeper and blocked the bombs of Jovanovic ('9) and Enzo Bruno ('15).

The first applause of the Oltenians viewers came in the 20th minute of the game after a head shot of Prepelita. Alex Piturca could do the hit if his shoot would have bypassed the veteran Rotaru. Then it was a both ways game until the break. In the 45th minute of the game, Tudor, the referee of the game, broken balance by easily red carding Ologu.

Contrary to the expectations, Craiova has created several occasions, but the new player Craciun was not generous with his team's supporters. The striker has missed three times alone to the goal, but he came later to be meeting with the ball ('59) and he targeted the enemy goalkeeper, Rotaru ('65, '66).

In the 68th minute of the game, Tudor said it was 11m kick for an execution of Bădoi against Vitinha and Selagea converted it to 1-0. In the 71st minute Selagea scored again for 2-0 and the game was done.

Our team: Lung - Bădoi ('86 Roman), V. Găman, Iliev ('52 Craciun), Bălace - Prepeliţă, Dilevski, Ologu, Firţulescu - Dina, Piţurcă ('46 R. Barbu)

Happy Easter 2010

or all the fans of Universitatea Craiova and not for them only, universitateacraiova.net wishes "HAPPY EASTER!"

Universitatea Craiova - FC Timisoara 1-2

Magera relaunched Timisoara in their race for the champion title through a goal scored in the last minute of the game.

The previous match convinced 20,000 viewers to choose the way to the stadium by three arguments stronger than choosing to celebrate Eastern at home: rithm, goal opportunities, goals!

In Drobeta Turnu-Severin the duel began in blue shades in the stadium and yellow and black colors on the field. In the first phase of Timisoara, Parks put a blanket over Craiova's defense and ideally served Goga. The striker scored in the empty goal, 0-1 ('7). Oltenian's attack deplored the lack of Florin Costea and the middle deplored the lack of the Prepelita. But the defense was Craiova's pride yesterday. V. Iliev scored for 1-1 with a great execution, by the heel! There were three main attributes of this goal: Wotte, because he showed to his pupils a great scheme, the excellent Firtulescu that centered from the left side, and the Bulgarian Iliev, captain of Universitatea Craiova for the first time in this game, who had a Brazilian execution. It was 1-1 at the break, although Piturca jr. tried with a head shot from the box to break the symmetry.

The guests remembered that they want to win this championship and they fought to get it. They increased the speed of the game. But Craiova had Merlier. The Belgian goalkeeper saved for Oltenia in front of Magera, left alone in the square at 10 meters, after a deflected shot of Alexa. At the last phase of the match, Sepsi centered in the square, Merlier could not keep that ball, and he deflected it to Magera. After his shoot, the score was 1-2 ('90+3).

Blue and white were greeted at Severin in a gala atmosphere. The match was sold out. They ran out of all the 18,500 tickets with two hours before the match. Fans stormed the gates of the arena two hours before the game, so the stadium was almost full 60 minutes before the start whistle. The two groups of supporters have respected each other, without incidents in the stadium. Timisoara had a gallery of about 300 fans. At the beginning of the match nearly 20,000 people started the uproar, the stadium was colored with thousands of blue and white flags.

Florin Costea has not been forgotten by the organizers. At first home match after his serious injury suffered in game against Politehnica Iasi, on the scoreboard were sequences with his best past actions. There were also posted messages of support for Florin. The supporters applauded his name for a long time.

Our team: Merlier - Bărboianu, Iliev, V. Găman ('67 R. Barbu), Bălace - Firţulescu ('68 Craciun), Ologu, Dilevski, Gângioveanu - Piţurcă ('85 Trica), M. Costea

Rapid Bucharest - Universitatea Craiova 0-1

With Florin Costea on a hospital bed, Universitatea Craiova went last night in Bucharest looking for some points which are very useful for the end of this football season. With a new system Craiova, 4-4-2, and with Ologu, a 20 years old kid, as a substitute for Florin Costea, Mark Wotte placed Prepelita and Dilevski as central midfielders.

Rapid scored in the first phase of the game, but their goal was canceled for an offside. Craiova had a shot of Dina (16') and the younger brother of Florin Costea, Mihai, missed a simple retrieval alone with Bornescu (19'). Mircea Bornescu, former goal-keeper of Universitatea Craiova in the last 4 years, is playing now for Rapid Bucharest.

After the break, Wotte realized that Sapunaru from Rapid, ex-FC Porto, is not so scary and took himself the risk to get out a midfielder, Ologu, and put a striker on, Alex Piţurcă. Although the hosts took over the game and they were dangerous for Silviu Lung's goal. Herea ('46) and Răduţa twice ('49, '57) did not beat Lung in good situations.

The end was played sharply, Dina had a bar on Bornescu's goal('70). At the other goal, Herea monumental missed one shoot, all alone with Lung('77), then Răduţa two meters from the goal ('78). In the last seconds of the game, Gangioveanu ('90+2) did a great shot in cross and that was the only valid goal of this game.

Some players from Craiova get an yellow card in this game, and Prepelita, Lung and Dina will miss for the next match, against Timisoara.

Our team: Lung - Bărboianu, V. Găman, Iliev, Bălace - Prepeliţă, Dilevski, Ologu ('46 A. Piturca), Gângioveanu - Dina ('70 Trica), M. Costea ('81 Firtulescu)

Florin Costea off

Florin Costea will be absent from the field for over 8 months, he had split the cross and collateral ligaments of his left knee.

Before the results of location, Costea still hope that will catch the end season: "I hope the injury is not very serious one. I hope I can catch the end of the season, thanks to the good God".

This is the second important football player loss for Universitatea Craiova in this season due to serious injuries, after the defender Ovidiu Dănănae.

He suffered a similar injury like Florin Costea in August 2009, in an international match of Romania against Hungary, and 7 months away he is still not recovered 100%.

Universitatea Craiova - Politehnica Iasi 2-1

A new great game played by Universitatea Craiova, a team who is looking for entertaining every day. This game was very nice to look at. It was very entertaining and Craiova really made a good match. In the 44th minute of the game, Florin Costea get injured by the goalkeeper of the opponent team.

He was replaced by Alex Piturca. Let's hope it is not something serious for the most important player of Universitatea Craiova. In the 62nd minute of the game, Vali Iliev, a new Bulgarian football player transfered by Craiova in this winter, scored for 1-0 and everything was just perfect for our team. Unfortunately in the 85th minute of the game Politehnica Iasi scored for a draw and Universitatea Craiova saw for a while the incredible situation to play in the second league next year.

That was only for 4 minutes, until Prepelita, the captain of Universitatea Craiova, scored again by a really nice head strike and Craiova came back to life again. I think I almost made a heart attack at that goal... 3 more points in the table and Universitatea can hope again.

Our team: S. Lung jr. – Bărboianu, V. Găman, Iliev, Bălace – Prepeliţă, Dilevski, Gîngioveanu ('69 Barbu) - Dina ('79 Trica) - M. Costea, Fl. Costea ('44 A. Piturca)

Gloria Bistrita - Universitatea Craiova 2-1

What a game! What a game! Craiova had 1-0 in the 3rd minute of it. F. Costea scored for Universitatea Craiova and everything seemed to be just fine for all the fans of Craiova. Actually the problems stared here. The referee of the game had another opinion and gave a penalty kick for Bistrita in the 34th minute of the game. It was a moment of mental block for all the audience. Nobody saw a contact in the penalty area. Everything was normal in the penalty area, but the referee said Bistrita deserve an 11m kick. Because of this, the score became 1-1 and it remained like that until the break time.

After the break Bistrita scored once more. This time it was a perfect valid goal, and Gloria took the lead of the game. In the 86th minute of the game, the goalkeeper of Gloria Bistrita, Albut, was redcarded. So their goal was succesfully defended by the scorer of the second goal, Hora. Universitatea Craiova could not get even in 8 minutes with one player more in the field and a striker of the opponent team defending the goal.

Our team: Lung - Bădoi, V. Găman, Iliev, Bălace, Barbu ('73 Gangioveanu), Prepeliţă, Dilevski ('68 Barboianu), M. Costea, F. Costea, Dina('62 Trica)

Universitatea Craiova - FC Brasov 3-0

Universitatea Craiova made a really wonderful game last Saturday. In the 25th minute of the game the score was already 3-0. In front of an assistance of 15,000 viewers, our team started in force the match.

Our goals were scored by V. Gaman('16), R. Barbu('25) and M. Costea('36). All these players are part of U21 Romanian national football team. Now Craiova is on the 14th place in the table. Let's hope our team will go up until the end of this season.

Our team: Lung - Bădoi, V. Găman, Iliev (Firtulescu), Bălace - Prepeliţă, Barbu, Dilevski - M. Costea, F. Costea ('80 Nicolae), Dina ('75 Trica)

Pandurii Tg Jiu - Universitatea Craiova 0-0

Universitatea Craiova made a good game this time. It was a really bad weather durring this match but both teams played good and the result was a consequence of the fight on the field. In this match, Barboianu was red carded and he will miss for the next game. F. Costea played only 1 minute because he had fever and was really sick.

Our team: Lung - Bădoi, V. Găman, Iliev, Buşu - Prepeliţă, Bărboianu, Dilevski, Gângioveanu ('54 Firtulescu) - Dina (F. Costea), M. Costea ('60 R. Barbu)

Universitatea Craiova - Gaz Metan Medias 1-2

Universitatea Craiova played the first game at home in this year. But the game was played in Drobeta Turnu-Severin, a city placed 120 Km to the west of Craiova. The stadium from Craiova is not possible to be used for a while so that Universitatea Craiova will play in Severin for the next 2 years.

Gaz Metan Medias did a good game and won without any doubt. Craiova tried hard to score and succeded in the minute 90+5 by Trica. Unfortunately this was not enough to get a good result. Another game lost for our team. Florin Costea missed a penalty kick in the 11th minute of the game.

Our team: Lung - Bădoi ('69 Trica), V. Găman, Iliev, Bălace - Firţulescu ('56 Dina), Bărboianu, Prepeliţă, Gângioveanu - M. Costea ('81 A. Piturca), F. Costea

Dinamo Bucharest - Universitatea Craiova 2-1

What a game, what a game! This is the game of the year in Romania. Universitatea Craiova must play its best against Dinamo Bucharest. And this time they did. Craiova came in Bucharest decided to do a perfect game. Unfortunately the referee was the main actor of this game.

Dinamo scored twice, but Florin Costea was no doubt faulted in the penalty area in the 13th minute of the game. The referee said: "come and play". No penalty, no card for Dinamo's defender, nothing. That was the moment which made an entire country being like a stone. Probably corruption...

Mark Wotte, the new Dutch trainer of Universitatea Craiova remained speechless. Such thing can not happen.

Our team: Lung - Bărboianu, Găman, Iliev, Bălace - Prepeliţă, Paunovic ('45 Trica), Firţulescu ('61 Gangioveanu) - M. Costea, Dina ('81 A.Piturca), F. Costea

Our goal was scored by Mihai Dina('19).

Friendly games in this winter

Universitatea Craiova played some friendly games in this winter. Our team prepared the next season in Turkey and in Bulgaria. The results of these games were:

- In Antalya, Turkey

Universitatea Craiova - Zenit Sankt Petersburg II 2-0

our goals: Dina ('50) and Craciun ('73)

Universitatea Craiova - Incheon United 2-2

our goals: F. Costea ('28) and M. Costea ('63)

Volgar Gazprom Astrakhan - Universitatea Craiova 2-1

our goal: M. Roman ('88)

Universitatea Craiova - SV Babelsberg ‘03 0-1

Universitatea Craiova - Zorya Lugansk 1-1

our goal: F. Costea ('30)

Universitatea Craiova - Spartak Nalcik 1-0

our goal: F. Costea ('5-pen)

- In Pomorie, Bulgaria

Universitatea Craiova - OFC Sliven 1-0

our goal: F. Costea ('71)

Otelul Galati - Universitatea Craiova 1-0

It was a winter game. On 12th of December, Craiova went in Moldavia to face Otelul (eng. The Steel) from Galati. There are not so much to say about this game. Only we lost another game and now will be a 3 months break. Maybe in springtime we will have a better team.

This was the last game for Eugen Neagoe as a trainer of Universitatea Craiova. Starting with 2010 Universitatea Craiova has a new trainer called Mark Wotte.

Our team: Lung - Bădoi, Stoica, Mitchell, Rose - Bărboianu ('82 M. Roman), Trică, Şoavă ('64 R. Barbu), Firţulescu ('58 V. Badea) - M. Costea, Dina

Universitatea Craiova - Steaua Bucharest 1-2

It was a very important game for all the fans of Universitatea Craiova. Unfortunately the result was not the one we expected. Maybe next time...

Our team: Lung - Bădoi, Găman, Stoica, Rose - Prepeliţă, Bărboianu, Şoavă, Firţulescu ('61 Wobay)- F. Costea, M. Costea ('78 V. Badea)

Our goal was scored by Prepelita ('15).

CFR Cluj-Napoca - Universitatea Craiova 2-0

It was a match without history. Our team: Lung - Bărboianu, Găman, Mitchell, Rose - Dina ('61 Badoi), Stoica, Trică ('79 Firtulescu) - Badea, F. Costea, M. Costea ('73 Wobay)

Craiova lost this game without any appeal right. I want rather not to remember such a game.

Universitatea Craiova - Drobeta Turnu-Severin 7-0

It was a friendly game between a prestigious football team and the last team in the second Romanian football league. Drobeta has no chances to save this year. Probably they will be in the 3rd league next year. Universitatea Craiova has a great history and at least 50 years of presence in First Romanian Football League.

The game was beautiful and was played in front of 20,000 viewers. That's the record of Romanian football for 2009. Our team:   Lung ('46 Merlier), Bărboianu, Găman ('66 Mitchell), Barbu, Buşu, Stoica ('40 Soava), Jackie Ionescu ('46 Badoi), Firţulescu ('71 M. Roman), Wobay ('54 Dina), Fl. Costea ('48 V. Badea), M. Costea ('71 Trica)

The goals were scored by: Fl. Costea ('16), M. Costea ('24), Firtulescu ('47), Wobay ('53), Dina ('60), M. Roman ('75, '81)

Universitatea Craiova - Ceahlaul Piatra-Neamt 3-2

It was an usual home game. It had not to much viewers. Although it was just a step for Craiova to do something wrong because the score of the game was 2-2 until the 88th minute of the game. In that moment, Vali Badea had a lucky head strike and we had a happy ending of this match. 3-2 was the final result and Craiova went to the 10th position in the table.

Our team: Lung - Bădoi, Găman, Mitchell, Rose - Wobay ('68 Prepelita), Bărboianu ('60 Firtulescu), Şoavă - M. Costea, F. Costea, Dina ('60 V.Badea)

Our goals were scored by: M. Costea ('6), F. Costea ('37) and V. Badea ('88)

Universitatea Craiova - CFR Cluj 0-1

Universitatea Craiova met CFR Cluj in a game for 1/4 Cup of Romania. It was really a crazy match. The refeere of this game was Alexandru Tudor. He made a lot of mistakes in this game. Craiova had a goal perfectly correct which was rejected, CFR Cluj scored after an offside and that was the final score of the game.

Our team: Lung - Barboianu, Mitchell, Gaman, Rose - Stoica ('65 Firtulescu), Badoi, Wobay, Soava ('35 Dina) - M. Costea ('60 V. Badea), Fl. Costea

International Pitesti - Universitatea Craiova 0-1

That was finally the first away victory of Craiova in this season. We were waiting for it kind of 3 months and now it came. It was not such a nice game but these 3 points in the table are all that we need.

Our team: Lung- Bădoi, Găman, Mitchell, Rose - Wobay ('81 Firtulescu), Dilevski, Stoica - M. Costea ('73 V. Badea), F. Costea, Dina ('66 Soava).

Our goal was scored by Mihai Dina ('42) after an assist of Julius Wobay.

Unirea Urziceni - Universitatea Craiova 3-2

This was probably the best match of this winter season. Well... actually only the second half of the game. Because Universitatea Craiova made a waiting game in the first half and because of this we received a goal in the 27th minute of the game.

After the break, this match was like a hurricane. Big opportunities in front of both goals, and more 4 goals scored. Craiova came back twice and made 1-1, and 2-2. This should be the final result of the game, but Urziceni scored in the very last  second of the game ('93) and the final score was 3-2. Nice game but no points in table for Craiova.

Our team: Merlier - Bădoi, Găman, Stoica, Mitchell - Bărboianu ('46 Trica), Dilevski ('65 Dina), Rose ('46 Wobay), Şoavă - M. Costea, F. Costea

Our goals were scored by: M. Costea ('54) and Wobay ('70)