final group match day in this year’s champions league; which brought with it a visit to londra and a meeting with mighty chelsea for romania’s 2008 champions. this time however i was at home and tsn decided to televise the game live. what a treat! yes, i did watch it (how could i not). chelsea did impose themselves with a score of 2 – 1; however, the romanian outsiders can still keep their heads high, after all from two meetings with mighty chelsea they managed to grab 1 point. it’s a start, something to built upon…but only time will tell.
during it though, i found myself engulfed in a conversation about hockey and level of professionalism found in north america compared with romania. it’s not as this is a surprise, but it does hold some value. cfr started their first run in europe’s finest competition with a thrilling win in roma on matchday 1; followed by a draw in cluj on matchday 2. two games down, 4 points out of a total of 6. romania was living and hoping, and for once it wasn’t due to steaua (another rant for another time). come to think of it, one of the promotional shows put on for manufacturers in analysis brought an unexpected conversation. while being talked to by a salesman i mention romania. (keep in mind, this was the day after cfr drew chelsea in cluj) at which point he starts talking about the soccer game the day before. and how surprised he was that not only did cfr beat roma a couple of weeks earlier, but they drew chelsea. at least someone outside of romania was aware of this!
anyhow, cfr did have a great start to the competition and left an impression. teams will likely not take them lightly next time around. but what happened? two meetings with bordeaux and a chilling visit from roma and cfr was shown the door. a lack of professionalism and experience took its toll on the young team from ardeal. nothing was to prepare them for the pressure that was to follow after the chelsea draw. their noses were held high (how typical); their comments were unjustified and there was no lack of foolishness. their approach to the next few games is probably the biggest reason as to why they did not manage to continue their great start. certainly they were a surprise at first, but their lack of professionalism on how to approach a game and not overestimate their worth quickly brought them down to earth. a competition that taught them a few things about how to behave on and off the field. being able to deliver when the pressure is on you is probably what defines a professional.
in today’s game they had some great spells, nice passing and caused some worries for the chelsea defense. they also had moments of weakness, not due to talent but rather their weak mentally. they were caught watching chelsea’s stars and instead of playing the game were more or less mesmerized by those stars. they had the chance to pull a great result, but their mistakes ended up in net. without taking anything away from cfr’s players, they should have, could have and must have done more. the pressure was on them, they could not deliver. a young talented team, with the hopes of many on their shoulders. we’ll have to wait and see what next year brings. however, the lessons learned this year should pay dividends. until then, they do deserve to keep their heads high as they did leave a good impression for an outsider.
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