Adam Dennehey WAFU manager
“We can win this group”, was Arpad Paszkany’s first statement after CFR Cluj was drawn in the same group with Manchester United, Braga and Galatasaray.
Nobody can suspect the owner of CFR Cluj of exuberance, even after his team get into the Champions League group stage after 4 victories: two against the Czech champions, Slovan Liberec, and then another double against Basel.
It is the third time CFR Cluj won the crusade to reach the elite of continental football.
In their previous adventures, the Romanian Champions managed surprising results against Roma, victory at the Olimpico, and a 0-0 at home against Chelsea in the 2008/09 group stage. That was their first campaign.
Expectations were high two years later after CFR beat Basel in the first match, but Bayern and again Roma were warned about the opposition. Now they face the colossus United, the clear favourites to win the group, whereas Braga and Galatasaray are not teams to be feared.
CFR Cluj is the most successful project in Romanian football, even though the club is not the most loved in the Transylvanian city. Built on a massive infusion of capital, the little team from Cluj promoted rapidly from the inferior leagues and in 5 years won the title.
The secret is simple and is similar to Manchester City’s strategy; instead of investing in the future, they simply bought whole teams from Portugal, Argentina, Brazil or African countries. They did it very shrewdly, but they didn’t always found the right man to assemble a team from various experienced players.
Ironically, the coach who got them in Champions League never got the chance to lead them in the competition. As a moral reparation, the actual manager, Ioan Andone, brought in the spring to boost a complacent team under Jorge Costa, was the first in a long line of sacked managers immediately after they won trophies.
Now he has to resist a few more days, but he is in great danger after the first 7 rounds in the league. Andone is not a great tactical coach, but rather a Harry Redknapp type, trying to get the best of the individual potential of his top players.
These are the Greek striker, Pantelis Kapetanos, with a lethal header, the Senegalese winger Moudou Sougou, speedy when he has space, the midfielder Gabi Muresan, who dictates the play, and the captain Cadu, a Portuguese central back, who is the only survivor of the first wave of supermarket buys.
Immediately after the qualifying for group stage, Paszkany bought four more players in an already lavish roster. One of these is Croatian striker Sasa Bjielanovic, a veteran of Serie A, the others South Americans with some sort of European pedigree, one from Braga.(the goalkeeper of Braga, Beto, played last season at CFR, and Braga’s coach, Peseiro, was at Rapid Bucharest a few years ago!).
The intentions are clear: CFR must reach spring in Europe. Can they do it? Only time will tell.
By Leo Macavei @simontwee
The new 'bitters' are struggling to adapt to the new realities of life. Especially when it comes to 'investing' in the future. The old ostrich routine will only work for so long. City have quietly gone about their business, investing not only in the community (the massive Etihad Campus programme has a little more substance than the Gary Neville Bar) but in youth. City's youth squad already has a group of world class youngsters, well beyond anything similar in the Premier League, which means only one thing: City aren't going to go away. So get used to 6-1 drubbings and the white flag performances at the Etihad, 'cos the Champions are playing to win, long term!
“Instead of investing in the future”???
What are you on about, more investment to happen shortly in the Etihad campus than you could ever dream of my friend!
You call us liars when in fact you are just as bad!
It's sad that so many of our supporters have nothing better to do with their time than trying to goad City fans with this sort of peurile nonsense nowadays.
City being better than us hurts, but let's have a bit of class. We're very quickly becoming the new Bitters.
I can't wait to see your team here.
From a CFR fan!
CFR is the trash! Forza “U” Cluj, bianco-nerri!!! “U” Cluj is The real team of Cluj, like Utd in Manchester. Respect Utd!
CFR – MU 0-1
MU -CFR 3-0
Clasament si etape din Liga 1
Pozitie in clasament Echipa Meciuri V E I Goluri G.dif. Puncte
1 Pandurii Târgu-Jiu 7 6 1 0 17-5 12 19
2 Steaua Bucureşti 7 5 1 1 17-9 8 16
3 Astra Giurgiu 7 4 2 1 15-10 5 14
4 FC Vaslui 7 3 3 1 13-8 5 12
5 Dinamo Bucureşti 6 3 2 1 11-7 4 11
6 Universitatea Cluj 7 3 2 2 10-14 -4 11
7 CFR 1907 Cluj 7 2 4 1 14-11 3 10
8 Petrolul Ploieşti 7 2 3 2 12-10 2 9
9 FC Braşov 7 2 3 2 12-11 1 9
10 Rapid Bucureşti 6 2 3 1 7-7 0 9
11 Gaz Metan Mediaş 7 2 3 2 7-8 -1 9
12 Concordia Chiajna 7 2 2 3 7-11 -4 8
13 Viitorul Constanţa 7 1 4 2 9-8 1 7
14 Gloria Bistriţa 7 1 2 4 4-10 -6 5
15 Ceahlăul Piatra-Neamţ 7 1 2 4 6-17 -11 5
16 Oţelul Galaţi 7 1 2 4 9-12 -3 3
17 CS Turnu-Severin 7 0 3 4 5-10 -5 3
18 CSMS Iaşi 7 0 2 5 7-14 -7 2
Don't mind our “U Cluj” commenter here. He's part of a group of people in the city that are a bit slow, that's all. We in Cluj Napoca do our best, we're trying to integrate them into our society, and we do believe that eventually we will be able to help them blend in.
Cluj Napoca has a population by 320,000, and this is a nice city from Romania. In Cluj are numerous hotels and pubs. The best way to go there is by plane or train from Bucharest, Budapest.
cfr does not have any chance of beating united but manchester should use teh first XI because otherwise they can be surprised,see basel last year.cfr is the champion of romania,but this team is really suspect because of the fixed matches.fergie shoud not be worry about this match.van persie should score as cfr cluj central defenders are not that good especially ionut rada.united should concentrate on ivo pinto,right defender who has something of rafael because he come into the attack and has good passes also.kapetanos is the attacker to keep man-to-man,because he is having a deadly headkick,his shoots are poor.
GLORY GLORY MAN UNITED,
vladimir-bucharest,romania
To the City fans annoyed at the 'instead of investing in future' line – that line was the view of Leo who wrote the piece. You don't have to tell fans about your investment as we know that with the amount of money spent your owners are not just in the game for a quick fix, but that they want to secure City's legacy and place as a top club for the long-haul, one which will challenge for domestic and continental honours for years and decades to come.
We know all about that. Unlike some football fans who are sick of your club spending trillions each summer, I am pleased that your club has been rescued from the abyss it was once in and that instead of worrying about the future, you have a bright future and that you are now a serious threat. It has made the Premier League stronger as a result and the rivalry between United/City now is even greater as there's more importance.