CFR in place for cup defence

The Romanian Cup final will be contested by teams from outside Bucharest for the third year in a row.

CFR 1907 Cluj, three points clear at the top of the Romanian First Division, have won the competition for the past two years and now have the chance of a hat-trick after securing a 3-2 aggregate semi-final victory against FC Dinamo 1948 Bucureşti.

CFR earned a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Bucharest and progressed courtesy of a 2-1 win in the home return. The hosts were reduced to ten men when Edimar was dismissed a minute after half-time but went in front five minutes later through Nicolae Dică. Andrei Cristea levelled the tie on 74 minutes before Lacina Traoré struck with 12 minutes remaining to inflict a first defeat of 2010 on Dinamo.

CFR will face SC Vaslui in the final on 26 May after they overturned a 1-0 first-leg deficit to triumph 4-1 against FC Brasov. Raul Costin opened the scoring with a free-kick on 27 minutes and Wesley, who later missed a penalty, added a second two minutes later. Lucian Sânmărtean scored the third (53) before Brasov's Octavian Abrudan was sent off (56) and Carlo Costly completed the scoring (73).