The white-violet team are confidently approaching Sunday’s away game against Concordia Chiajna, one of the candidates for promotion to League I. Although Politehnica does not have a reassuring situation in the standings, coach Nicolae Croitoru believes that his students can fight from equal positions with any opponent.

“A difficult game awaits us. It’s a stage with a special charge and our game belongs to this category. We meet an opponent who, in order to catch one of the play-off places and stay in the objective, that of promotion to League I, must accumulate three points in the next two stages, as in the last stage for them there is an extremely difficult game in Buzău, then it’s clear that Sunday’s game has a special importance. Even if last time they lost quite clearly in Cluj. I think it was an accident. It’s hard to believe that a team that has conceded only six goals in 16 league games, and two in all away games, manages, in inverted commas, to concede four goals in a single game. I consider that an accident. It’s clearly been a pretty stormy week for them too. Even with changes to the coaching bench and I think they will approach the game quite motivated. On the other side, we also come in need of points. The Petrolul game made it impossible for us to fight for the points at stake. We hope that the game in Chiajna, even if it is a difficult one, will show that we are a growing team and that we are a team that can make claims to play on equal terms with any opponent. Even if it’s a difficult game, I hope we can live up to the expectations, and, let’s have a good game and win a point or points”, said Nicolae Croitoru, Politehnica’s head coach.

“It’s hard to say now, I don’t know if in terms of the philosophy of the game major changes can be made in a short period of time. But it’s clear that mentally the change of coach can have a positive influence”, Croitoru added about the fact that the hosts changed their head coach after the tough 4-0 defeat in Cluj against Universitatea, with Ianis Zicu replacing Claudiu Niculescu.

As you know, Politehnica – Petrolul, the game of the 17th round, was interrupted for good in the 38th minute, at the score of 0-0, because of the night installation at the “Dan Paltinisanu” arena. “There was that frustration after the game, but I think that part of the game, the 37-38 minutes gave us confidence that things are going the way we wanted and that we can approach the other games the same way. I think the team played a good game against an opponent, maybe the best in the championship”, concluded Nicu Croitoru.

“Not necessarily that we have to beat them, we think there has to be a change in the game compared to what happened in the first part of the championship. I think we have a valuable, young team, very young, if we think about the average age, somewhere around 23 years and 8 months. We have very motivated players. Both for the upcoming games, but also motivated to perform. On the other hand, we have experienced players, who are part of the club’s history and who certainly want to participate in the team’s evolution”, Nicolae Croitoru, Politehnica Timișoara head coach.

Politehnica will be without the services of captain Ioan Mera (suspended) in Ilfov, while Alin Ignea is uncertain due to injury.

The match Concordia Chiajna – Politehnica Timisoara will be played on Sunday at 12:30 (televised Digisport 1, Look Sport+, Telekom Sport 1), in the 18th round of League 2. Ilfovenii are in 4th place with 32 points, while the white-violet are in 15th position with 20 points.