Romania vs Cyprus

Three points are imperative for Romania and Cyprus as they square off in their latest 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier. 

It’s not the start to the qualifying campaign Romania would have hoped for after reaching the knockout stages at Euro 2024 last summer. Indeed, the Tricolours have lost twice in their opening three Group H outings (W1), including a 2-1 defeat to Austria over the weekend. Despite sitting second pre-round, their closest followers both have a game in hand, rendering this clash against #129-ranked Cyprus a ‘must win.’ Mircea Lucescu’s men haven’t lost consecutive matches since June 2022, so there’s a reason for optimism. That’s not to mention they’ve only lost one competitive home international over the past two-and-a-half years (W6, D4), with the Romanians netting 2+ goals in five of those six wins! Interestingly, nine of Romania’s last ten games have produced 3+ goals, underscoring the potential for a goal-glutted showdown.

In the meantime, visiting Cyprus must pull off something special to join Bosnia as the only nation to win on Romanian soil since September 2022, considering they’ve managed just one win in 15 previous meetings with this opposition (D2, L12). Furthermore, they conceded a staggering 41 goals in those matches. Adding to the visitors’ concerns, they’ve suffered eight consecutive defeats in World Cup qualifiers on foreign soil. However, they’ve fared decently at the beginning of this qualifying cycle (W1, L1), though it’s largely thanks to a 2-0 win over San Marino in March. Yet, they showed resilience last Friday, fighting back twice to hold Bulgaria to a 2-2 draw in a friendly.