POLITEHNICA – ASTRA, IN THE ROMANIAN CUP, THE FIRST OFFICIAL MATCH OF THE YEAR FOR THE WHITE-PURPLE

Politehnica Timişoara will play tomorrow the first official match of the new year. The white-violets will face the first-viewer AFC Astra in the eighth finals of the Romanian Cup, a duel that takes place in a single round, on the “Dan Păltinişanu” stadium.

The year 2021 is a special one for our club, a fact emphasized in the preamble of today’s press conference. “Today we are at the beginning of a year that we want to be emblematic for the sports movement in this part of the country. Emblematic because this year the Timişoara Polytechnic celebrates 100 years since the establishment of the section called the Sports Society of the Timişoara Polytechnic School. It is an opportune moment to bring to the public’s attention the importance of this institution and the importance of the sports movement generated by this institution for Timişoara, Banat and this part of the country (…). Those around the team should have all the necessary conditions to be able to approach this championship final, so that after the six games, plus tomorrow’s event, we can achieve the first feasible goal – promotion to the playoffs. Of course, tomorrow’s match is also important, because it depends on our image, it also depends on the motivation of the players. If we really make a quality match and, why not, if we get a spectacular result, it will be an additional reason to give confidence to our players for the upcoming matches. We must not forget. We have a very important start, there are two capital matches out of the six, but all of them must be taken into account. So we start with confidence that we will fulfill this mentioned desideratum“, declared Viorel-Aurel Şerban, the president of the Timişoara Polytechnic.

“People are hoping for our project. We are ahead of a mini-return start and the Cup match. Tomorrow we meet an important team of Romanian football, a team made up of players of certain value, led by an experienced coach. Of course, I understood that Budescu had left and, if he did not leave, he was suspended. But they have players to replace him. I want our team to rise to the level of the game. It is very important an increase in the perspective of what will be that mini-return with access to the playoffs, our main goal. I have expectations from our players to show a lot of determination. I’m glad the turf looks acceptable at this hour and you can play football tomorrow. We meet a top opponent, who in recent years has played in European cups, won the championship, has been in the playoffs every year, I know Astra’s team very well. They have players who can make a difference at any time. We can only enjoy such a match, motivate ourselves and show exactly where we are at the moment. In fact, that’s what I want tomorrow, to have a solid performance that will give us hope for the first stage of this year “, said Dan Alexa, the head coach of the white-violets.

Regarding the state of the field where the game will take place, Dan Alexa stated the following: “It looks good, I understand that it is raining today and tomorrow… the game, they have a very realistic and pragmatic coach in Neagoe, I know him, he knows what to ask at a certain moment. He’s not a naive coach by any means. And Astra forms a mix of experienced players and young players, they have four or five strong players, who can make a difference on difficult terrain, quality players who can easily achieve something in any situation “.

The technician of the Polytechnic considers that tomorrow’s guests are advantaged in view of the fact that they have already played many games in the new year in League I, where they are currently ranked 13th. “It’s a big disadvantage, Astra has already played seven matches, they have a rhythm of play, they played every three days, from this point of view they are much ahead of us. That’s why for me tomorrow’s match is a benchmark. I want to see the players respond to a superior opponent, such as Astra, to prepare for the match with Buzău… But we also have players with matches in League I and I want to see a reaction from them tomorrow “, concluded Alexa. The only unavailable player of the white-violets for this game is Pavle Radunovic, for bureaucratic reasons, his documents will be completed in the next period.

“We meet a League I team, not good, very good, with very good players, who are convinced that they will come to play their chance and qualify further. But we also have a good team and I hope and I think we will play at the maximum level, because we really want to qualify for the next phase. It will be good ground as far as I know. I hope that they will disadvantage them and that they will benefit us “, concluded Ionuţ Cioinac, the latest acquisition of the Polytechnic.

The match Politehnica Timişoara – AFC Astra will be played tomorrow, February 11, at 5.45 pm (televised on Digisport, Look and Telekom), on the “Dan Păltinişanu” stadium, without spectators.