FC Unirea Urziceni

[*Manticore* 1,893]

Will do. Their next championship game is on the 12th of September, just 3 days before the one away in Seville. It's Unirea Urziceni vs. Unirea Alba Iulia and everyone expects Urziceni to win with a confortable 2-0.

What does 'Unirea' mean?

You can translate it as "Union" or even "United".

Thanks.

[kostun 0]

As promised, coming back with info after Unirea's game today. A confident performance by Unirea against a weak but battling team from the bottom of the table and a easy 1-0 win. Unirea rested 3-4 players that will start from the first minute Wednesday in Seville. At the press conference the coach (Dan Petrescu) acknowledged that everyone was already thinking about the CL game and that they will give their best for a good result (everyone expects them to play defensively and on the counter in the hope of a draw).

On a different note, saw on iraqgoals your game with Motherwell. As an outside objective observer I can only say that if you don't improve DRAMATICALLY on the level of play shown today you don't stand a chance against either Seville or Stuttgart and I'm fairly sure neither against Unirea. I'm saying this because Unirea kills us in the league and we just clobbered this Motherwell side just a month and a half ago. But I guess you already know this too. In any case, good luck against Stuttgard, hope you won't lose.

[BlueIsTheColour 35]

Thanks for the update Kostun, much apreciated.

Today was our worst performance this season by a distance but we will be a different team come Wednesday night in Stuttgart. Rangers always raise their game in European matches.

[RangersAndy 0]

we have no chance against unirea??

aye nae bother

[ForeverBlue_Since91 2,895]

As promised, coming back with info after Unirea's game today. A confident performance by Unirea against a weak but battling team from the bottom of the table and a easy 1-0 win. Unirea rested 3-4 players that will start from the first minute Wednesday in Seville. At the press conference the coach (Dan Petrescu) acknowledged that everyone was already thinking about the CL game and that they will give their best for a good result (everyone expects them to play defensively and on the counter in the hope of a draw).

On a different note, saw on iraqgoals your game with Motherwell. As an outside objective observer I can only say that if you don't improve DRAMATICALLY on the level of play shown today you don't stand a chance against either Seville or Stuttgart and I'm fairly sure neither against Unirea. I'm saying this because Unirea kills us in the league and we just clobbered this Motherwell side just a month and a half ago. But I guess you already know this too. In any case, good luck against Stuttgard, hope you won't lose.

All of the SPL Teams Raise there Games For Rangers when they Play us. I hope there will be a couple of changes by the time we play Unirea .

[kostun 0]

Continuing the thread with Unirea's games. First about last week's game in Seville. Seville were by far the better team but did not have an easy game. As probably all the teams in the group will see, Luis Fabiano is in the top 10 of current world strikers and can solve a game by himself easily.

Last night Unirea played away to Dinamo Bucharest which will always be a tough encounter no matter what. And they did put on a good performance, far better actually than anyone expected considering they worked their socks off in Seville on Wednesday. There were the obvious changes in the starting line up, they couldn't field their best 11 but they stunned Dinamo nevertheless. Opened the score in the first half and controlled the game until the break. Dinamo pulled level immediately after half time through a somewhat lucky goal, arguably a keeper's error. But it was Unirea who had more chances of scoring afterwards although Dinamo had the best one to score the 2nd. In the end, when everyone was thinking fair draw, Unirea's goalkeeper does it again and Dinamo wins 2-1. Tough for Unirea to lose the game in the last 20 seconds of extra time but that's football. To sum it up, a good game by Unirea but shocking goalkeeping by Arlauskis.

[biotechnology 2]

Continuing the thread with Unirea's games. First about last week's game in Seville. Seville were by far the better team but did not have an easy game. As probably all the teams in the group will see, Luis Fabiano is in the top 10 of current world strikers and can solve a game by himself easily.

Last night Unirea played away to Dinamo Bucharest which will always be a tough encounter no matter what. And they did put on a good performance, far better actually than anyone expected considering they worked their socks off in Seville on Wednesday. There were the obvious changes in the starting line up, they couldn't field their best 11 but they stunned Dinamo nevertheless. Opened the score in the first half and controlled the game until the break. Dinamo pulled level immediately after half time through a somewhat lucky goal, arguably a keeper's error. But it was Unirea who had more chances of scoring afterwards although Dinamo had the best one to score the 2nd. In the end, when everyone was thinking fair draw, Unirea's goalkeeper does it again and Dinamo wins 2-1. Tough for Unirea to lose the game in the last 20 seconds of extra time but that's football. To sum it up, a good game by Unirea but shocking goalkeeping by Arlauskis.

Thanks kostun

Im beginning to think Unirea are going to be a lot harder than some Bears expect.

They seem to be able to battle & fight- they keep coming from behind-they seem to have lots of team spirit.

[kostun 0]

Just a quick off-topic here, I've seen some of the Rangers fans writing about ticket availability at the stadium. I just want to confirm that there will be PLENTY of tickets available but I think there's an UEFA rule that says that the host club cannot sell them on the day of the match. There will be the usual shady character selling them in front of the stadium before the game, provided that police isn't looking around too hard. Unirea does not have any history, does not have any rivalry with any other team in the league and doesn't even have more than 2-300 fans. I expect neutral Romanian fans to come to the game and take their side but they will be in the hundreds or low thousands at best. Anything other than that and it will be a miracle in the works. No offence to you but the Rangers game is the least attractive for the Romanian football fan, some way behind the one with Seville which has some world class players and Stuttgart where our national team's regular forward plays. So i'd say you bears have a good chance of being in the majority if you turn up in high enough numbers.

Because of the latest fan unrest in Romanian football do expect "Robocop" police officers to be everywhere and ready for action at any time so I advise you not to pull any stunts because they'll either test their truncheons on you or take you to the station and give you a hefty fine. Lighters and even coins will likely be confiscated when entering the stadium. Mobile phones and video cams should be fine. Also expect to be hearded like cattle by the police at the entrance too, you'll see what I mean when you get there. Don't take it as something against you, just their usual rules. Everything else will be fine : city, people, bars, pubs, you name it.

Last thing, ticket prices as sold in Romania :

150 RON ~ 30£ - armchairs called FOTOLII, light blue on the chart (near the VIP places called LOJE)

100 RON ~ 20£ - best regular seats in the only fully covered section of the stadium (it's November, it really counts if it rains), sections A,B,C in yellow on the chart

50 RON ~ 10£ - main stand, sections 1 to 5 and 39 to 43 in green on the chart

30 RON ~ 6£ - opposite of the main stand, sections 16 to 28 in grey on the chart

20 RON ~ 4£ - North and South stands, in red (sections 6 to 15) and dark blue (sections 29 to 38) on the chart

Travelling fans usually occupy a part of the North stand so Rangers fans who have bought their tickets from their club should be placed there, sections 37 descending to 30. If there are many of you you may just be lucky enough to sit opposite of the main stand. Take a look here : http://www.steauafc.com/ro/planul_stadionului/. Click on a section and you will see a picture with the probable view from that spot. I'm not 100% sure but you may not be allowed to stay in any other place but with the rest of the Rangers fans regardless of the section you have a ticket for.

[BlueIsTheColour 35]

Thanks for the info mate, much appreciated. We will probably take around 1'000 fans, more or less. Good to hear that there will be no problem in getting tickets for guys who are not in the Travel Club.

I don't see the Police being a problem, the travelling Bears are generally well-behaved and are used to being herded like cattle at the stadium, it happens in most places we go.

[TunnyLoyal 1,136]

Thanks for all of the info mate.

Very helpful.

[delparlane 5,753]

All I know is we have no business taking ANY team for granted at this level (or in any other match, for that matter)! I'm sure they will prove very tough and well prepared, so we had better be on our toes and ready to roll from the opening kickoff.

[kostun 0]

In the last 4 days Unirea had 2 easy games. First one in the Cup against a 2nd division team, which they won 3-0. The second, played this evening in the league against a newly promoted team, finished 4-1. There isn't much to tell, both games were one sided encounters with Unirea very much in control for the entire 90 minutes. Their thoughts go now to the "home" CL game with Stuttgart on Tuesday. Their goal is not to lose it. Unirea looks on form but Stuttgart is miles away from their last 2 opponents.

[kostun 0]

Last night Unirea played a very good game against Stuttgart. The germans opened the score very early with a somewhat lucky goal but then retreated in defence for the rest of the game, deciding to play it on the counter. It wasn't the best of decisions by their coach as Unirea started piling up the pressure and were close to equalizing several times in the first half. The inevitable happened in the first minutes of the second half and then the game became really lively with many chances to score at both ends. Both teams missed the opportunity to go one up many times but it was Unirea who looked more likely to pull it off. In the end it finished 1-1 and both Unirea's coach and players were upset at the end with the draw. They had the game in their hands but the germans had enough experience and quality in their ranks not to lose it.

For the game in Glasgow their plan is not to lose. They will likely be defensive and let you attack and try to get a goal or two on the break. Quite an interesting game to watch for the neutral fan if they manage to at least keep the level of their game on the same par with last night's performance.

And last, something about the fans. As I've previously stated, Unirea has almost no fans and up until 2 days ago they've only managed to sell about 400 tickets. However, wanting to draw as many people as possible to the game so that they don't face Stuttgart on an empty stadium they made a smart move. Thousands of tickets were given for free to the kids in over 70 schools in their home town of Urziceni and also in Bucharest. This paid off really well, probably some of the parents joined in too as in the end they had about 15.000 mostly neutral but nevertheless cheering fans at the game. If they do this again against you and provided they do not lose in Glasgow, you may actually have to face a crowd of about 20.000 in Bucharest.

[WilliamFyfe 1,438]

Cheers for the info this side seems as if they'll be no blow over.

[John Satch 0]

they're a pond with 6 points fishes.. should hook one that's all... if we aint got what it takes to do that, going through won't make much sense...

[kostun 0]

they're a pond with 6 points fishes.. should hook one that's all... if we aint got what it takes to do that, going through won't make much sense...

Well, that's pretty much their view of you too, only that for them you're a pond with 4 points fishes. They would like to get out of this group and don't care if it's 2nd or 3rd place.

[kostun 0]

Last night Unirea played their worst game of the season yet. They were well beaten at home by a good team of the Romanian championship, FC Vaslui, 2-1. In their defence, it was pouring, the pitch was extremely muddy and out of their 5 Romanian internationals, 3 were rested for the Rangers game, 1 entered as a late substitute and only the captain of Unirea played from the start. One of Unirea's forwards, a Romanian U23 international, is injured and won't play in both games against Rangers.

As for the game itself, Unirea opened the score quickly, in the 7th minute, and then played the waiting game, being satisfied with only stopping Vaslui's attacks. They had just another big chance to score but it was missed. After the break Vaslui completely dominated the game and out-passed Unirea for the full 45 minutes of the second half. The 2 goals were the logical result of their ball possession and relentless attacks.

Former Rangers player Ian Durrant was in the stands on behalf of Walter Smith to watch Unirea's game. He didn't say anything to the press after it, just left.

And last, all the interviews with Unirea's players and their coach had the same tone. Accidents happen, our thoughts were far away to Tuesday's game where we need to win or worse case scenario, draw. Every one of them seemed to be aware of the fact that who gets the/(most of the) points from these 2 games will qualify at least for the Europa League while the other team is destined to finish 4th in the group.

[kostun 0]

Last minute good news for Rangers ... Unirea's first choice goalkeeper,Gedrius Arlauskis, has picked up an injury in training and he will not play tonight. Daniel Tudor, his not-so-good replacement is the only goalkeeper in Unirea's team and there's no time to bring someone else from Romania. If something happens to Tudor before/during the game, Unirea will be in trouble!

[kostun 0]

Good morning to all Rangers fans. Not trying to rub salt in your wounds or anything but I've tried to warn you in my posts that Unirea are not a team to be bullied into submission or dismissed as almost amateur. They beat us this season already at our own home ground and we were very far behind them in the table last season. And we're mighty Steaua, the most successful team ever to come out of Eastern Europe! Unfortunately, as you've probably realised for yourselves, history doesn't play for you. It's the players. And it has to be said that now Unirea looks like having better players than you do. They certainly have better players than we have. And for sure a better coach too.

What amazed me the most last night was the fact that Unirea looked, how do you like to put it in Scotland, "piss poor". You can ask Muff, I think he'll agree they were continuing their below average display from the Vaslui game. Unirea used to play far better at the beginning of the season and Dan is renowned for making his team be as consistent as possible during the season. Having said that I think that Unirea will come back on form pretty quickly and they will play a lot better in November in Bucharest. So Rangers MUST raise their game A LOT to have any hope of getting something from that game. Remember, you'll be playing on neutral soil, Unirea is definantly not at home in Ghencea. They'll be like Morton playing their home games at Ibrox because their stadium is not being up to the UEFA rules.

Last, as an objective outside observer, I can safely say that this season Rangers looks on par with the rest of Scottish football. We destroyed Motherwell, a small Czech team killed Aberdeen, Hearts was brushed away by Dinamo Zagreb and Falkirk succombed to real minnows, Liechtenstein team Vaduz. I won't mention your great rivals, the "scum", you know very well they are in pieces too. I'm sorry to see a tradition club like Rangers who used to provoke shivers down any team's spine at Ibrox being so well beaten at home in two succesive games, it reminds me of our own club's downfall in the last 2 seasons. Hope you come back to the better good old days from next season.