Stanciu tells Romania to raise their game

Nicolae Stanciu is urging Romania to pick themselves up as they look to rebuild their UEFA European Under-19 Championship campaign with a much-needed Group A victory against Greece.

The finals hosts began their first fixture, against the Czech Republic in Chiajna, in good heart and Stanciu gave them a welcome – if fortuitious – lead on the half-hour. "It was a lucky goal, but it's nice to score in such an important match," he said. That advantage had been wiped out by the interval, however, and two more Czech goals in the second period left Romania playing catch-up in the section and Stanciu searching for positives.

"We had five or six opportunities and didn't take them," the midfielder told UEFA.com. "We've played better but even if we didn't play very well against the Czechs we still had several chances. We were very fired up at the start but once we'd scored we thought we had the game won. It didn't turn out like that at all. After their second goal our level dropped a lot; we lost our way. That said, we deserved at least a draw."

Having failed to secure that, Lucian Burchel's charges must regroup swiftly to take on Greece – who also opened with a defeat – and Stanciu knows what is required for the two remaining games. "We must remain united and believe in ourselves," he said. "We must play without stress and clear our minds. It's important to start well; if you do that, you feel no pressure. That's what happened to us against the Czechs; we played well until it was 1-1, but when they scored their second it was a psychological barrier we couldn’t overcome. Because we'd started so well we didn't expect it to turn out like that."

With no margin for error against Greece, Stanciu's side have to raise their spirits, and their No10 knows exactly what is at stake. "We're all focused on Greece now, and first of all we must make sure we play well," he said. "We'll have to win really because the match is likely to be decisive. Greece are in a similar position to us; they need a victory too and both of us will be well motivated. They'll be hard opponents but it should be an interesting game."

One thing on Romania's side will be the home crowd, with more than 3,500 spectators having turned out for their opening fixture, and Stanciu believes that backing could provide a valuable extra edge. "The fans gave us a lot of support against the Czechs until they scored their second goal, but before that they'd been great," he said. "It's a nice feeling to play at home, to have support from your family and the fans; everyone encourages us and has big expectations for us. The fans know we look to win every game, always; we've been in a training camp for more than a month and it's not easy to be away from home for that long, but we do it because we want to win."