9/27/2008

And Another Clip

A Short Clip

Just thought I'd post here my favourite moment from the September protests.

9/26/2008

Politehnica Iași - Poli 0:2 (0:1)

The wins are piling up for Uhrin's men and if there is to be another one next week, against Gloria Bistrita, this winning streak will become the longest winning streak in the club's history!

The white-violets managed their sixth consecutive win today, in match in which they overpowered the home side, a team in dire need of points. Bucur was, once more, the player to watch, and it was he who scored the first goal of the match in the 40th minute, after having come close on two previous occasions. The goal was the result of Bucur's persistance, as he intercepted a sloppy back-pass to the goalie and in a very Inzaghi-ish kind of way opened the scoreline!
Arman Karamyan, who replaced his injured brother, could and should have made it two in the beggining of the second half, but his shot was deflected wide by the goalie. As Poli Iasi couldn't muster the strength to come close to scoring, the white-violets had few problems in staying ahead and until trembled slightly when Balba got away on a one on one situation with Pantilimon in the 87th minute, but the young goalie was inspired enough to hamper the striker in his attempt to put the ball past him. And then, in the 90th minute, Dorin Goga received a wonderful assist from Magera, controlled the ball well and stormed towards the penalty area, before managing to place his shot perfectly and round off a solid performance by Politehnica.


Poli: Pantilimon (6) - Bonfim (5), Luchin (6), Cisovsky (6,5), Milhazes (6) - Stancu (5,5), Alexa (6), Borbely (6), Arm. Karamyan (5,5) - Bucur (6,5), Magera (6).

Bădoi (5), Goga and Rusic came on to substitute Bonfim, Arm. Karamyan and Bucur.

This win would have basically put us first in the standings, were in not for the infamous six point penalty imposed by CAS.


Bucur goal:



Goga goal:

Romanian Cup: Poli - CFR Cluj II

The white-violets will play the second team of Romanian championas CFR in the next round of the Romanian Cup, on the 15th or 16th of October.

9/25/2008

Justice For Poli Timisoara!


A new website has been launched today - despite being unfinished at this point - which details the whole situation of the club records. In its final version, it should be available at least in Romanian, English, German and French, possibly also in Italian and Spanish.

The website is the ultimate resource as far as Politehnica's issue is concerned, as it presents a brief history of the club, a concise explanations of the timelime which lead to the September protests, all the documentation upon which our claim for justice is based, as well as fotos and videos which are related to the matter at hand.

The website can be found at: http://www.justiceforpoli.com.

You are of course warmly invited to post the link/banner around.

9/21/2008

Poli - FC Vaslui 3:1 (1:1)

Despite the cold weather, Poli are as "hot" as they get, at least in the Romanian League. Today's opponents, FC Vaslui, are also engaged in the UEFA Cup and have even managed a 0-0 draw away against Slavia Prague, but today they were trampeled upon by a very determined Politehnica.

The first half wasn't terribly exciting, although the white-violets were in control most of the time and came close to scoring through Gigel Bucur, twice. But it was FC Vaslui who opened the scoreline, at their first scoring opportunity, as Stancu lost a ball in the midfield and Temwanjira received a good pass which he converted precisely (34th minute). The advatange of the away side only lasted a few minutes, as Gigel Bucur pushed in Wintson Park's cross to draw level (43rd minute).
Vaslui came close to getting back the lead at the beginning of the second half, but Pantilimon saved well, before Parks turned on his motors and humiliated the defense of Viorel Hizo's men. However, the Costa Rica player was unlucky and ultimately had to be replaced, because of an injury. There was someone else though who still had something to say and that was Marian Cisovky. The Slovakian defender picked up the ball in the midfield, went towards goal and hit a scorcher from 30 meters, sending the ball straight in the top corner of Kuciak's goal (74th minute)! Bucur made it three in the 80th minute, after twisting and turning in the Vaslui penalty area before hitting the ball towards the far corner! The away side could have scored again, but Bonfim's unlucky header (he's on our team) was lucky enough to only send the ball into the post, and not Pantilimon's goal, after a well taken corner kick.

So all around, it was a good performance by the white violets, especially thanks to Bucur, Parks and Cisovsky. I would also like to point out that Bonfim, despite the blunder towards the end, had a good display of football, and if he can root out the errors of his ways, there's no reason why the Brazilian shouldn't become a regular first team player.

Poli: Pantilimon (5,5) - Bonfim (5,5), Luchin (5), Cisovksy (7), Milhazes (5,5) - Stancu (4,5), Alexa (6), Borbely (5,5), Art. Karamyan (5) - Bucur (7), Parks (6,5).

Goga (5,5), Rusic (5) and Arm. Karamyan came on to replace Art. Karamyan, Parks and Bucur.

Temwanjera goal:



Bucur goal:



Cisovsky goal:



Bucur goal:

9/18/2008

UEFA Cup: Poli - Partizan 1:2 (1:1)

It wasn't enough tonight from Poli to come out clean after a match in which the white-violets tried to do well, but were too overwhelmed by the importance of the game to convert their ambition into success. Moreover, Partizan were more compact, more determined and had higher quality players, who - in the context of a mediocre Poli performance - didn't need more to take home the win.

Poli could've been 2:0 up in the first ten minutes, but Bucur's header and Magera's shot were saved, before Luchin wasn't able to convert following a corner kick, despite being just a few mteres away from goal. Then Partizan tried their luck with a shot from distance, by Tosic, and a close range effort, but both times Pantilimon saved well. In the 24th minute Bucur scored the first goal of the match, receiving a Karamyan pass on a counter-attack, before lobbing the Partizan goalie from around 30 meters! The one goal advantage lasted only a ten minutes, as the away squad were awarded a free-kick from a good position, which Tosic converted mercilessly. Before half-time, Partizan could have taken the lead, but Magera and Abiodun saved heroically in critical situations.
The second half continued as the first had ended while the Serbs were piling on the pressure. A 63 minute shot that hit the crossbar announced the third goal of the night, which followed a good run by Bogunovici and a powerful shot, almost saved by Pantilimon - but not quite. While Partizan turned down a gear, Poli just couldn't get going, and except for a shot by Magera and a mix up involving Abiodun in the penalty area, Uhrin's men just couldn't do more.

Poli: Pantilimon (6) - Bădoi (4,5), Luchin (6), Sretenovic (5,5), Milhazes (5) - Abiodun (5), Alexa (5,5), Magera (6,5), Art. Karamyan (5,5) - Rusic (5), Bucur (6).

Stancu (5,5), Goga (5,5) and Borbely replaced Bădoi, Rusic and Karamyan.

It's a sad loss for Poli, but not as sad as the sight of the one third empty. While there is still some hope left, I doubt that anything short of a miracle will save the white-violets in Belgrade.

9/16/2008

Politehnica's European Record

Up to now, Poli played 16 matches in European Competitions: 10 in the UEFA Cup and 6 in the defunct Cup Winners' Cup.

Of these, 7 games were won, 1 drawn and 8 lost, with 15 goals scored and 30 conceded.

Amongst the teams met were the likes of Atletico Madrid, Glasgow Rangers and Real Madrid, of which the white-violets eliminated the first two. Moreover, the team has yet to lose on home soil in European Competitions.

Presentation of the Zambon/TAS Conundrum

I tried to summarize the events which have lead to the six point penalty, in the hope that we'll be able to set up a website in several languages, explaining our cause.

You can have a read of it here.

Thanks to Odense!





It's great to see there is quite a bit of international support for Poli. Cheers!

9/15/2008

Artiom Karamyan Interview (yes, again!)

Andrei Craiotoiu interviewed Artiom Karamyan after the win against Craiova, and the Armenian was in a very expansive mood. The article was published in GSP.



“God, I can’t believe it!”. These were the first words of Artiom Karamyan after Sorin Corpodean’s whistled the end of the match. He yelled, disfigured with joy, surrounded by his team mates. Then he gave us an interview.

R: Artiom, it was a crazy match!

AK: Crazy? That doesn’t even begin to describe it. We experienced this match at maximum intensity. It was insane, an insane match, insane! It’s hard for me to say anything else, I’m absolutely thrilled.

R: Did you still believe you could win at 0-1?

AK: If you don’t believe in winning, there’s no point playing. We conceded a goal from the penalty spot and said to ourselves that we need to equalize quickly. We were hoping to score on every opportunity. Then Gigel Bucur’s goal came and we were unshackled.

R: Hard against Craiova?

AK: As always, it was difficult. Last year we didn’t win any points against them, now we have three. And we won’t forget about the home match, where we’ll also want the points. We want to win everything.

R: What’s the secret of a team that manages to score three goals in five minutes?

AK: Mister Uhrin! He’s brilliant. He Gigel Bucur on the pitch and we managed to turn the game around. Who’d have thought, at 1-0 for Craiova, that we’d score three times? Nobody! Mr. Uhrin and ourselves believed until the last minute. It all went his way, he’s great!

R: You scored the last goal, who do you want to dedicate it to?

AK: My family, the fans and my team mates. I’m happy I scored and I did it with the help of my team mates. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have been able to score. We’re a family here, united!

R: Over 1000 fans came from Timisoara to see the match.

AK: I heard them all the time. You play differently when these people support you. It’s very important for us that they’re standing by us at every match. At 0-1 they were singing louder and louder! We had to match them, so we changed gears.

R: Is there additional pressure after the six point penalty of the RFF (Romanian Football Federation)?

AK: Honestly, I don’t understand why the RFF took those points from us, I don’t know what they were thinking. Now we have to work even harder to get back to the top. We’ll do it, we’ll win and we’ll be a force to be reckoned with, but it’s incomprehensible to us why this happened.

R: You played in yellow-black, but still violet was predominant in the fans’ stands.

AK: We are Poli, we are the Viola team, there is no other white-violet team in Romania. We will prove that we deserve to be Poli and I hope we’ll get our points back.

R: Was the decision unjust?

AK: It’s some madness from those who took the decision. We worked for those six points and someone just came over night and mocked our work. We will work until we die for the white-violet colors!

R: Do you think the ownership change will matter?

AK: It’s hard to say. For me, and I think for everyone else in the team, it’s important to play our best and win. It’s of lesser importance who the team owner is, what matters is that we give our lives on the pitch and work hard for the wins.

R: The next match is an important UEFA Cup encounter!

AK: Oh, yes! It’s good that we managed to win at Craiova to keep our minds clear. It will surely be a difficult match, because we’re going there to prove what we’re capable of. We’re playing for Romania, we’re playing to show who Poli is!

R: Is it hard for you to say who’ll win?

AK: I’m too happy now to think about the match against Partizan at this time. Probably in a few hours I’ll be thinking only about that. Everybody wants a win and a qualification in the group stages.

9/14/2008

Tickets Politehnica - Partizan

The official website of Politehnica has announced the ticket prices as well as the locations where these will be sold.



North/South Stands: 25 Ron (= aprox. 7 Euros)

- on the seating plan these are marked as Peluza Sud (South Stand) and Peluza Nord (North Stand)
- the South Stand is where the CVUCS Politehnica fans are "seated"

First and Second Stands: 45 RON (= aprox. 13 Euros)

- on the seating plan these are marked as Tribuna 2 (Second Stand) and Tribuna 1 (First Stand)

Zero Stand: 80 RON (= aprox. 23 Euros)

- on the seating plan these are marked as Tribuna 0

Executive seats: 120 RON (= aprox. 34 Euros)

- on the seating plan these are directly "above" the Zero Stand, part of the small grey area


The tickets can bought in various places around Timisoara on Sunday (one of which is in the city center, next to the Opera building) and from Monday onwards they can only be bought at the ticket shops around the stadium.

For further information you can call one of the following numbers at the club:

+40 0256 487880
+40 0723 363602

If you are running about looking for the stadium, you'll probably do well to look for the County Hospital of Timisoara and as soon as you start reaching it, you'll notice the stadium. As a guiding address, try to be looking for Aleea FC Ripensia, but take note that that is a one way street leaving away from the stadium.

9/13/2008

Universitatea Craiova - Poli 1:3 (0:0)

A hard week on all Poli fans came to a happy ending with this impressive victory over Universitatea Craiova.
The white-violets played some very good football in the first half, but could not convert their chances. Craiova managed to get back into the game in the second half, and after missing some great opportunities, Badoi fouled Dina to gift the home side a penalty, which was converted by Stoica. Despite the late goal (79th minute), Dusan Uhrin Jr. proved very inspired and sent Gigel Bucur on the pitch before a corner kick. The Poli striker scored at the corner and then offered two assists to Parks and Karamyan, for the third and fourth goals of the evening. Ultimately, a well fought victory by the guys, who deserve our thanks for a more soothing weekend than others, of late.

Poli: Pantilimon (6) - Bădoi (5,5), Luchin (5,5), Cisovsky (6,5), Milhazes (6) - Abiodun (5,5), Magera (6,5), Borbely (6,5), Art. Karamyan (6,5) - Rusic (5), Goga (5,5)

Taborda (5,5), Parks (6,5) and Bucur (7) substituted Pantilimon, Rusic and Abiodun.



Stoica penalty:



Bucur goal:



Parks goal:



Karamyan goal:

9/09/2008

Sunny Timisoara

It's been another exquisite evening among Poli fans, as almost ten thousand fans gathered once more to support Poli. The meeting was very similar to the one on Sunday, in the same spirit of civilized protests. As the chants echoed in the streets around the city center and Ovidiu Tender was announced as the main contender for Politehnica's ownership, the only question remaining is whether any of this will reach the tall Bucharest offices, where the perpetrators against Romanian football reside.

Frankly speaking, I don't see it happening, especially because Timisoara is so far away. It would be great if all the messages of support would turn into street protests, in the same civilized manner as those from Timisoara, for nobody could ignore such pressures, but it's wild to believe this will ever happen. That's how well our dungeon keepers have isolated themselves.

International Support

During the match between FSV Zwickau and SG Dynamo Dresden, the local fans showed their support to Politehnica's cause.



Danke schön!

The Hypocrisy of News

It's been a sad experience to see that the international media does not take note unless there's violence involved. After several newspapers picked up an article about the mildly violent events from Thursday evening, there's been almost no reports whatsoever about the organized protest from Sunday evening. Of course, there's no shock value to be had from a civilized protest, which is probably why people have to end up in little pieces in order to draw some attention to their pain. Everyone is justified in making complaints about the order of things and despite the so enticing label of "suicidal maniacs", the fact that media coverage basically endorses such actions is widely muted.

The example might be extreme, but it proves the point I'm making. In a world where people can hardly find a common cause which is not fueled by hatred or aggressive competitiveness, but by caring these are the events which should make the headlines.

To me, the distinction is clear: Poli supporters are not gathering every second day because they hate the RFF, we're doing it because we care about our club. The hatred we feel is a byproduct of our caring, but it's not what makes us stand together and stand tall. If nothing else, then the peaceful protests prove that hatred is not key, for if it were, the protests wouldn't be peaceful.

9/08/2008

The News of the Day

Today's press conference was a good time for Mr. Iancu to present things in a clear and concise manner, so that even the numbnuts in the press understand it. Hopefully that will have done some good, despite the RFF trying to defend themselves through an official statement, which does not make reference to the missing documents though.

On the financial side, rumor is that local millionaire Ovidiu Tender would be interested in taking over the club from Mr. Iancu and we should have a clear picture of things by the end of the week. While Mr. Tender is more affluent, it's unclear whether he'd have the same willingness to spend as Mr. Iancu did - but things would probably come down to who would be put in charge of the club and his (her - hehe) expertise. Fact is that Mr. tender is just as dubious a figure as Mr. Iancu, both having been charged with a series of felonies in the RAFO case a few years back - though they got off, on a technicality, if I recall correctly.

The Right Time

Poli's match against Partizan will start at 20.45, local time, according to evz.ro. Just as a reminder, the match is supposed to take place on the 18th of September.

Timisoara!

About 10,000 people gathered this evening in the city center in support of Politehnica. Chants, interspersed with speeches by former players, supporter leaders and locally representative figures, took Timisoara by silent storm for a couple of hours, in another attempt to draw attention on the importance of change within the system.

Now that Timisoara has spoken, it is time for Marian Iancu to unveil the documents which should put this change into motion. Tomorrow's press conference at 11 AM local time can prove decisive.

9/06/2008

Friendly Report: Poli - OFK Belgrade 1:1 (0:1)

On a day when football was second in line, the white-violets played a poor first half, which was compensated by a more convincing performance in the second part of the game, mainly thanks to the inspiration of Dorin Goga. While OFK scored at their only big chance, Poli came very close twice through Goga, before the ex-U Cluj man was served perfectly by Sanchez, and he in turn sent Magera the ball who only had to push it into the net.

Despite the terribly hot weather, 5000 fans came to show their support today. The away side proved to be very fair-play, as all the players threw their jerseys to the fans after the match, while also applauding their effort. The couple of OFK fans who were present at the match hung a banner reading "UEFA cares about Euros", for which we are very grateful.

Poli: Taborda (5,5) - Bădoi (5,5), Sretenovici (6), Cisovsky (6), Bonfim (6) - Abiodun (5), Magera (6), Garcia (5,5), Stancu (5,5) - Bucur (5), Parks (5,5).

Milhazes (6), Sanchez (6), Goga (6,5), Rusici and A. Ganea, substituted Bădoi, Garcia, Parks, Bucur and Abiodun.




Magera goal:

9/04/2008

Viola Fans Storm the Streets of Timisoara

In our continuous effort to save Politehnica and set things in their fair and proper order, thousands of fans have marched on the streets of Timisoara today to draw attention to the issue at hand - which is the neccesity of eliminating the crippling corruption that dominates Romanian football, thanks to the likes of Mircea Sandu, the president of the Romanian Football Federation.

After a few hundred supporters went to the team's training of the day, at around eight PM a few thousand fans blocked one of the main routes into Timisoara. Although there were some minor altercations with local law enforcement, the violent impulses were contained sufficiently as to cause no serious injuries to the two parties involved. Later on, even more people gather in the city center where the fans chanted against the RFF and Mircea Sandu, as well as in support of Politehnica.

A photo gallery can be seen here.

Scandal Unfolding

As FIFA decided to penalize Poli with six points, due to not complying with the TAS decision (particularly, because the colours are still the same), Marian Iancu has been saying all over Romanian TV that he will retire from football and pursue a personal vengeance against the president of the Romanian Football Federation, Mircea Sandu.

The issue itself is insanely complicated and heavily layered, but if you have the curiosity and the patience to look into the matter, you can check out the initial TAS decision here and yesterday's FIFA decision here.

I'll keep you posted with what's going to happen. Fact is, if Marian Iancu retires from football, then he will have no troubles in destroying what is left of Politehnica Timisoara - despite his "good intentions". Personally, I see no reason why Mr. Iancu should not ensure a swift change of ownership before embarking on his life-long battle to sort out the inequities of this world.

P.S. As a decent introduction into the issue, you can also read my translation of an article which appeared over a year ago. While not up to date (obviously), it is well written. The link is here.

9/02/2008

UEFA list

Here are the players included on the list for the two matches against Partizan:

Portari: Marius Popa, Costel Pantilimon, Pedro Taborda

Fundaşi: Lucian Gavriluţă, Milos Brezinsky, Sreten Sretenovici, Srdjan Luchin, Carlos Milhazes, Iasmin Latovlevici, Valentin Bădoi, Eder Bonfim

Mijlocaşi: Adrian Ganea, Stelian Stancu, Luis Garcia, Balazs Borbely, Agunbiade Abiodun, Artiom Karamian, Dan Alexa

Atacanţi: Dejan Rusici, Lukas Magera, Arman Karamian, Gigel Bucur, Dorin Goga

Most notably, Winston Parks and David Sanchez do not find themselves among the players selected.

Watching Poli Matches

I just wanted to announce that I made some minor changes to the "Watching Poli matches on the Internet" section, to bring it up to date.

Rusic's Sunday

An article today in Gazeta Sporturilor, written by Mihai Mateaş and Adrian Bucur, reports on the Sunday of Dejan Rusic. I took the liberty to translate it for you guys, as I thought it was a nice read. Enjoy!

"The Matador's Day"

Dejan Rusic started this season on the bench. After the disaster against Medias (1-5), in the very next match, the Slovenian was sent on the pitch by Mr. Uhrin to make a difference. Since then, he hasn’t dropped out of the first eleven and the team hasn’t lost, whether the opponent was Otopeni, Buzau or Rapid. Rusic scored in every one of these matches [...]. Yesterday, the striker accepted the initiative of Gazeta Sporturilor to tell us, in his words, how Sunday unfolded, one of the most important days of his life.

8.30 – Wake up call
I remember I was woken up by “Magione”, one of our physios and I was upset, because I’d wanted to sleep more. As a result, I didn’t even feel like eating at breakfast and, so I only had a bit of yoghurt and muesli. At about 9.30 I stayed behind with Alexa and Sreten [Sretenovic]. We kept telling each other that we have to win. I told Sreten to focus. “I know you can do better. You played perfectly in the pre-season friendlies. Have more confidence in yourself!” I told him. He thanked me and said that I will score.

11.30 – Training
Dusan Uhrin called us at the stadium for a light training session. I only recall that I was very sleepy and I was thinking that I had to warm up every bit of muscle in my body while running with my eyes closed. I didn’t want to risk another injury; last year’s two moth long one was enough. After an hour, at the tactical session, I knew already that I would play, but I wasn’t sure of the system in which the manager would place us. At the end, Dusan repeated almost obsessively “Fight for the city! Fight for the fans!”. His words were going to stick with me for the whole day.

14.00 – Rest
I left for lunch. Pasta and chicken. But all I wanted was to go to bed. As soon as I got in my room I fell asleep. Unfortunately, only for one hour. I woke up and Bayern’s match was on TV. I “borrowed” some moves from Toni and Klose and decided to use them against Rapid. It’s funny when you watch a match only thinking of trying to learn something from the players. I fell asleep again, dreaming I would score like Toni against Rapid and then jump on the fence, celebrating with the fans. When I woke up I had a message from Petra, my girlfriend: “I love you, I have faith in you. Make me proud today!”

20.00 – Locker Room
I got dressed and left for the stadium. In the team bus I stayed with my forehead glued to the window. I saw how people were flowing from all streets and alleys towards the stadium, a sea of people dressed in violet. I realized once again how important the match was for the whole city and, instantaneously, I remembered what Uhrin told us: “Fight! For the fans, for the city!”. At 21.00 we went out to check on the pitch. The fans burst into cheers. I looked around. They were all there. It was electrifying. Once we were back in the locker room, I noticed that Uhrin’s afternoon message was written on the game board: “Fight! For the city and the colours!”. We sat around in a circle, covering each other’s hands and I yelled together with the guys as loudly as I could: “Fight, fight, fight! We’ll destroy them!”. Before going out, I took Sreten aside again: foul your direct opponent roughly the first chance you get. Be careful though not to get booked. If you take him hard, he’ll know to be afraid of you. I’m telling you out of my own experience.” Well, considering what Sreten looks like, I don’t think it was hard for him to instil fear anyway.

21.45 – The Match
The match started. I had my first chance as well. The ball came and I sent a header towards goal, I didn’t expect him to save it. I looked at Pardo and said in Slovenian: “No problem. We’ll meet again later”. I was sure I’d score. We controlled the first half, we were all over them. I didn’t even realize how quickly it went by. I hate half-time! I just wanted to go back on the pitch as quickly as possible. I don’t even remember what Uhrin told us, all I was thinking about is what he had told us that afternoon. That was enough for me. Back on the pitch. Rapid is playing better. They’re dominating the match. Sreten sent off! I was stunned. I was sure we’d win and now I was reliving the match at Buzau, when we all had to defend in the dying minutes. I told myself: “If we win in 10, we’re heros!”

23.34 – The Goal
The ball came towards me from the corner kick. I was shouting aloud at Pardo: “Drop it, drop it!”. He dropped it. I didn’t even wince. I set my foot to the ball and in the next second I went crazy, I swear! I’d done it! My first thought was to run to the fans, like in my dream. I wanted to run around the stadium, thank everyone. But I was sure I’de be sent off. Maybe if I was Usain Bolt I’d have gotten away with it. I’d have stayed there on the fence all night long. It was magnificent! It was our night. How could we lose with such fans behind us? It was over! We’d won. “Ti-mi-soa-ra! Ti-mi-soa-ra!”. Mass madness. Dinner followed. I looked all night for a restaurant, but all were closed. I gave up and went to the hotel with my agents. There, all I got was a bit of cheese. Was that all I deserved?

9/01/2008

Poli - Rapid 1:0 (0:0)

It was our night tonight, with Poli scraping a win although down to ten men since the 62nd minute. The only goal of the night was scored by Dejan Rusic in the 85th minute, who was at the right place when Rapid goalie Pardo punched the ball forward, after a corner-kick. The match was balanced most of the time, although Poli had a better start and the away side only managed to recover after the 30th minute. Despite Sretenovic being sent off, the white-violets showed great composure and determination to play for the win and it ultimately paid off!

Poli: Pantilimon (6,5) - Bădoi (6), Luchin (6,5), Sretenovic (6), Milhazes (6) - Art. Karamyan (5,5), Alexa (6,5), Magera (6,5), Abiodun (6,5) - Goga (6), Rusic (6,5)

Rusic goal:



More videos here.

P.S: The Romanian press have announced that Marian Cisovksy, of Artmedia Bratislava, will be joining Poli in the following days. He was spotted at tonight's match, as well.