“our 1994 world cup win against argentina was the greatest in romania history”

ILIE DUMITRESCU

You emerged at Steaua Bucharest shortly after the club won the 1986 European Cup. How hard was it to get game time?

It was hard for youngsters to step up into the first team during that era, but I’d played a lot for Romania’s under-17s which helped me to gain experience. Steaua’s manager, Anghel Iordanescu, gave me a chance and I played my first match in 1987. They’d loaned me to Olt Scornicesti and I played 33 of 34 games for them – the Romanian league was really strong back then, because players couldn’t move abroad [due to communist rules]. After a year away, I started playing in the European Cup and scoring for Steaua and the national team. We reached the European Cup final in 1989, but lost 4-0 to Milan. Sadly, I didn’t get to play in the final as I’d picked up two yellow cards and was suspended.

You were part of a telanted generation of Romanian players at that time, but the big star was Gheorghe Hagi. How good was he?

You could feel Hagi’s value as a player from the first training session. For me, Hagi is the best Romanian player ever and was a brilliant character. He was an example of how to train and how to win – even in training, he always wanted to win. Around him we had very good players like Gheorghe Popescu, Dan Petrescu, Florin Raducioiu, Ioan Lupescu, Daniel Prodan and Miodrag Belodedici. But Hagi wasn’t just the star of the people, he was the star on the pitch as well.

You went to the 1990 World Cup but only made two substitute appearances. Was it frustrating not to play more?

It was all about the moment. We started well against the USSR [winning 2-0] and the guys in my position did great, so the team stayed the same. That tournament was such a good experience for me, and I started to work hard to become a leader in the team. I improved, developed my quality and, by ’94, was ready to be part of Romania’s best ever World Cup.

Under your old Steaua gaffer Iordanescu, your big moment arrived in the last-16 tie with Argentina, when you played a crucial role in Romania’s 3-2 win…

I didn’t have a great start to the 1994 World Cup, but Iordanescu knew that my moment to make a difference would come. Before the Argentina game, I did well in training and felt confident because I’d always thought I’d do something at the tournament.