{"id":560050,"date":"2026-03-25T16:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T16:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/560050\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T16:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T16:09:13","slug":"i-cant-leave-like-a-coward-romanias-mircea-lucescu-on-illness-and-his-world-cup-dream-at-80-romania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/560050\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I can\u2019t leave like a coward\u2019: Romania\u2019s Mircea Lucescu on illness and his World Cup dream at 80 | Romania"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mircea Lucescu is fighting for one last World Cup while at the same time battling his own body. He has lived through thousands of games as a player and manager but these could be the hardest of them all: two playoff games to take Romania<\/a> to their first World Cup in 28 years.<\/p>\n

Lucescu is 80 years old now and has not been well \u2013 but he has lost none of his energy, nor love for the game. Since December he has been admitted to hospital on three occasions but here he is, with an espresso in front of him, discussing his long career, the playoff semi\u2011final against Turkey<\/a> on Thursday and Ukraine, a place he used to call home. He does not, however, want to disclose the exact nature of his illness for fear that it will become the focus over the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the doctors told me I could go on coaching, I focused on what I had to do for Romania,\u201d he tells the Guardian in a rare interview. \u201cI spoke to the federation and they told me they couldn\u2019t find a solution to the situation. I\u2019m not in my best shape so I would have stepped away if there was another option available. But I insist: I\u00a0can\u2019t leave like a coward. We must believe in our chance to qualify.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucescu has lost weight but his face still lights up when talking about football. It has always been like that for him. Before an impressive managerial career, he was a player and captained Romania at the 1970 World Cup. The Tricolours faced Pel\u00e9\u2019s Brazil, England \u2013 the defending champions \u2013 and Czechoslovakia. Romania left a strong impression on the football world. They beat Czechoslovakia 2-1 but lost narrowly against Brazil and England. Their football, under the guidance of the iconic manager Angelo Niculescu, has been recognised as an inspiration for Pep Guardiola and tiki-taka.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe achieved some extraordinary results when we played our way of football,\u201d Lucescu says. \u201cWe knew little about what was happening around us; we were coming from a closed, communist regime.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe reached the World Cup in Mexico. Just 16 teams there. We tried to show our way of playing: we knew how to pass well and we used this to counter the force of our opponents. After 1970 things changed in the national team and we lost our identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mircea Lucescu (left) captained Romania at the 1970 World Cup, where they lost narrowly against Brazil and England. Photograph: Popperfoto\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Just a decade after that tournament, however, Lucescu was given the chance to coach Romania for the first time. He was only 36 years old but the team reached Euro\u00a01984 (only eight teams did) and was close to qualifying for the 1986 World Cup with him in charge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I built the national team more than 40 years ago I wanted the young players to be hungry to play for Romania. I gave them chances at the senior level. I want players who are strongly motivated and who can control their emotions. I wanted to build self\u2011belief in their minds \u2013 that leads to performance. The 80s and the 90s were full of success. Even though the boys left Romania after the fall of communism<\/a> to play abroad they always remembered the connection between themselves and the national team.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1983 Lucescu gave a debut to an 18\u2011year\u2011old Gheorghe Hagi, arguably the best player in Romania\u2019s history. He went on to play for Real Madrid and Barcelona and was later coached by Lucescu at Brescia and Galatasaray. Lucescu stayed as Romania coach until 1986 and built the foundations for the country to reach three consecutive World Cups in 1990, 1994 and 1998 as well\u00a0as the European Championships of 1996 and 2000.<\/p>\n

A successful career as a club coach followed with Lucescu taking charge of sides such as Inter, Galatasaray and Besiktas, Zenit\u00a0St\u00a0Petersburg, as well as Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv. For a long time, he was the second most successful manager in the world, with more than 30\u00a0trophies won, behind only Sir\u00a0Alex Ferguson before Guardiola\u00a0overtook him.<\/p>\n

His second stint as Romania manager began shortly after the 2024 European Championship. \u201cI\u00a0felt it was my duty to take charge of the team. It wasn\u2019t just a major responsibility. It was my duty for everything that Romanian football has ever given to me. I was indebted. It was never about money, never about another medal. I have enough trophies. I hoped to help by changing the way Romanian football works at a mental level.\u201d<\/p>\n

While in hospital, he kept in close contact with his players and staff while also analysing Turkey games. \u201cWe will play in front of an impossible atmosphere. I know it to perfection: Besiktas\u2019s home stadium. When I left the club I had two more years left of my contract but I left the money to the club with the firm commitment that they would use it to rebuild the stadium. It\u2019s one of the best stadiums I\u2019ve ever been to. When the other team has the ball they put the pressure on. And it\u2019s an extraordinary pressure. I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s any remedy for the noise they will create. I will need to explain to my boys, to those who haven\u2019t been to play in Turkey, what awaits them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mircea Lucescu returned for his second stint as Romania head coach in 2024. Photograph: NurPhoto\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Lucescu knows what awaits him and the team in Turkey but other things have taken him by surprise. \u201cI was very surprised to see how things had changed since I returned to coach Romania,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tougher and tougher these days to find praise, isn\u2019t it? I mean I am half-joking but I guess I want those who are criticising us to put everything into context and to be objective, without hate. We see how fake news moves these days and how it influences the public. What was possible 40 years ago isn\u2019t possible now, with everything that has happened with technology and the media. But you just can\u2019t build if you\u2019re surrounded by a negative environment all the time. It\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The buildup to the Turkey game has not been easy. Lucescu had been hit by withdrawals and now he has to do without the Celta\u00a0Vigo goalkeeper Ionut Radu and the Pisa midfielder Marius Marin because of injuries. They would both have started. Lucescu is not one to feel sorry for himself, though. \u201cI need players who come and put their entire soul on the pitch. And I don\u2019t need those two hours or a day or two. I want national team players to be above everyone else. I often call the boys, and I tell them to try to do this and that. Because I don\u2019t need them to run three kilometres during a training session. During a match, you need to run 11 kilometres! If they are not playing, I tell them to train more than everyone else. To go to a forest, to go to a park, to run and exercise. Everything starts in your brain. You make settings for success or failure in your brain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u00a0speak a lot with them. They regularly ask me how I\u2019m feeling. They thank me\u00a0for sticking around. In tactical talks I need to be quick. [These days] players lose concentration during meetings after about 10 minutes. You need to be able to tell them what\u2019s essential for them to know in those minutes when you have their full focus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucescu refuses to look ahead to a potential World Cup finals berth \u2013 they would have to overcome Slovakia or Kosovo in the playoff final if they beat Turkey \u2013 but he has been thinking about Ukraine, who are in a different playoff path. He left an unmatched legacy after 12 years at Shakhtar Donetsk and then spent another three with Dynamo Kyiv. Lucescu still thinks of the home he left behind in 2014. He was in Donetsk when the first shots were fired, 12 years ago, then in Kyiv when Russia invaded in February 2022. \u201cI keep in touch with my former players and my friends in Ukraine. The situation there is horrible. I remember I left Donetsk in 2014 when the conflict started in Donbas. I left my apartment with everything inside and I never returned. I don\u2019t know what happened to my home there. I have no information from anyone as we had to move the club from Donetsk.\u201d<\/p>\n

His mind returns to the here and now and a World Cup playoff that is just a few days away. \u201cI am happy for the players. They made it to this level under highly difficult circumstances. They went to play for clubs all over the world, from China to the Gulf states, to the European lower leagues and the Romanian championship. They are trying to adapt and make a name for themselves. Like all the Romanians working outside our borders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that my players treat this game as a moment to mark a before and after. It can define a generation. It would be an extraordinary achievement to reach the World Cup. Not for me, but for Romania.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mircea Lucescu is fighting for one last World Cup while at the same time battling his own body.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-560050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}