Romania ease past depleted Russia

Romania 3-0 Russia
Romania beat fellow UEFA EURO 2008™ contenders Russia 3-0 in a friendly in Bucharest on Wednesday with goals from strikers Ciprian Marica, Daniel Niculae and Marius Niculae.

Under-strength Russia
Romania initially struggled against a team drawn entirely from the Russian Premier-Liga and it took the hosts until the stroke of half-time to break the deadlock through VfB Stuttgart forward Marica. Coach Victor Piţurcă took off Adrian Mutu and Cristian Chivu at the break and substitute Daniel Niculae made it 2-0 after 61 minutes before Marius Niculae completed the scoring with a header in the 76th.

Debutants
In contrast to Guus Hiddink – who handed first caps to FC Moskva striker Roman Adamov and the versatile FC Zenit St. Petersburg player Roman Shirokov – Piţurcă had virtually a full deck to choose from, although Marius Popa did feature in goal for the first time as regular No1 Bogdan Lobont was unwell. The 29-year-old custodian had to be alert to deny Vladimir Bystrov following a rapid Russia counterattack, yet Romania gradually imposed their authority and took the lead when Marica teased his way past three defenders before placing the ball in the far corner.

Niculaes score
Russia might have equalised immediately had Bystov connected with an inviting cross from danger man Yuri Zhirkov, but that was about as good as it got for Hiddink's men. Romania found the target twice more without reply after half-time. Vasili Berezutski needlessly conceded possession for the first of those strikes, scored by Daniel Niculae, before namesake Marius – having just hit the woodwork along with Răzvan Cociş – headed in the second from Bănel Nicoliţă's right-wing centre.