Marko Dugandzic is the guy that scored two consecutive hat-tricks (not necessary literally speaking…) for Rapid Bucharest on Giulesti stadium. The first one, against Sepsi was the fastest since 1972! 51 years ago. A good achievement, indeed. I am supporting Rapid for 24 years now and I have studied in depth, the club’s history, but…
Category: Football
What is the legacy of the FIFA World Cup 2022 from Qatar?
Hard question: what should be the legacy of the latest World Cup, the 2022 Qatar competition? It is a serious debate, and it cannot be resumed in a couple of words, so this is why I have waited for some time to pass to assess and order my thoughts as better as I could to…
Cristiano Ronaldo interview by Piers Morgan, explained – the ultimate joke
In the last week, the World Cup in Qatar took the second place, because the interview with Cristiano Ronaldo, held by Piers Morgan, covered the so-called football world almost entirely. Because it was such a one-of-a-kind event I have decided, on one of my runs, to listen to the whole 90 minutes and draw my…
Qatar World Cup 2022 – the land of hypocrisy
There is no previous World Cup and there will be no other in the future as debated like the World Cup from Qatar that is about to start on 20th of November 2022. The problem is that we all knew about this as early as December 2010, which means 12 years ago! Around six months…
Rapid Bucharest, the reasons for which it is the greatest football team in Romania
I am not writing this just because I grew up, from 1999, as a huge Rapid Bucharest fan. No, on the contrary. Now, being more objective than ever, after several years of heavily criticizing the club for one reason or another, I have gathered, in the season at the end which the club will celebrate…
Rareș Ilie, the Romanian prodigy – complete portrait
I have talked and wrote many times about Rareș Ilie long before the Romanian “press” – you’ll find later on that the brackets are really needed – heard of him, let alone see his qualities. Most of them, anyway, didn’t see any quality in this guy. But Nice, number 5 in 2021-2022 Ligue 1 saw…
World Cup 2022: we have all the qualified teams. Which are the favorites?
In mid June, the last three qualified teams to the World Cup 2022 were found out. Wales beat Ukraine, after the Ukrainians put out Scotland, Australia kicked out United Arab Emirates and Peru – at penalty kicks – and last, but not least Costa Rica beat New Zeeland to gain the last spot. Now, the…
Romania – Finland 1-0, Giulești: when a stadium wins you a game
Being a Romanian and being soooo familiar with everything that is happening in this country’s football, I was pretty sure that Romania – Finland will end up in a heavy defeat, for the Nordics. What I did really underestimate was the atmosphere from Giulești, the newly rebuilt Rapid’s stadium. This is the exact purpose for…
UEFA Champions League Final 2022: pure disgrace
I have written here a preview of the UEFA Champions League final 2022 which, coincidently, was played on Stade de France, a stadium on which I took part at a different sporting event only one month before. I am watching football less and less, because the quality of this sport doesn’t deserve my attention, but…
Stade de France, the other perspective: Champions League final 2022, Liverpool – Real Madrid
Six weeks before the Champions League 2022 final, FC Liverpool – Real Madrid, I’ve stepped on Stade de France, Saint-Denis, for Spartan Stadion. The experience, here. Now, the big match is about to be played. Everybody expected to have a pure English final, but the proverbial luck of Real Madrid played, once more, a big…