Somes

Good luck today! Hope you start off the season with a win!

If anyone wants to watch the Steaua - CFR game: http://www.rojadirecta.com - search for "Steaua" then try one of the three options. Don't need any additional software.

I couldn't care less about the opinions of said hotheads, what worries me is that they instill them on their children. Since the latter are unlikely to have other strong figures talking to them about politics until they enter high school, they'll end up becoming adults with strong, yet biased beliefs even though most of them haven't even so much as talked to a Romanian. If they would, they could find out how some of us love Hungarian cuisine (guilty as charged), drink Hungarian wines and regularly visit Budapest for the beautiful city that it is. Funnily, this feud seems to be taking place over Transylvania's head so to speak - it's between Budapest and Bucharest. The land in question doesn't seem to give a damn, probably because we've discovered we can live together quite happily. In bed with the enemy, as those Nemzeti lads would surely say! Like you said, it's the 21st century, we're all in the EU, might as well shake hands and call it a day. Not being a tree-hugger or a defeatist, I'd just like to get on with my life without having to worry about a non-issue. It's the Balkans, bad things have happened hereabouts not too long ago. Short fuses everywhere. P.S. Glad you enjoyed my city, Andy.

Cluj-Napoca. I reckon about three quarters of my neighbours are of Hungarian descent, as well as our family doctor and quite a few of my colleagues. Felt a bit embarrassed about that banner when I talked to them the following day. I wonder how Steaua's winger János Székely felt about it. The boy's as Hungarian as they come! It's refreshing to see that normal people don't care much about the political drama, but normal people never make the news. All it takes is a handful of inebriated hotheads and you're set for a week of public debate.

Waved flags and banners with maps of Greater Hungary (including Transylvania, where I happen to live; and did this whilst transiting Transylvania itself), threw cans of beer and firecrackers at the bystanders on every platform where the train stopped, as well as spitting, yelling and swearing at them; women or elderly, made no difference. They were completely unprovoked - did all this from the minute they entered the country. There were some reports of urine-filled water bottles that were sprayed out the windows, but it's probably an exaggeration. As repugnant as the Steaua banner was, this puts it into context a bit. And it also explains why I appreciate the general feel of the Motherwell tie so much. That's what football should be all about. It's a sport! I want to be able to take my kid to any game, anywhere, at any time of the day, without being worried I might have to shield him from mindless opposing fans.

Has any newspaper written about the stunts they pulled in the train stations they passed through on their way to Bucharest?

I wish I could say NT matches are a different story. The friendly was arranged well before the Ujpest incidents, but I doubt there will be any Romanians in the stands even though Hungary is right next door. The last time our national teams played against each other, the buses our fans were travelling in had their windows smashed while Budapest police officers were standing idly a few dozen feet away, as well as cars with Romanian license plates being targeted in the parking lots and streets around the stadium. That's not to say our fans were innocent schoolboys. It's probably worse than the Greece vs. Turkey dispute.

@mon_da_well: Bogdan Stancu's Airdrie goals have brought him his first national team cap (Aug 12th friendly against Hungary)! Will be replacing injured Adrian Mutu up front. Big shoes to fill.

RIP Caseta We will not forget you! Caseta means 'Cassette', so it was probably that fan's nickname. Edit: Did a bit of searching and he was a 32 year old member of an Ultras fan group in Bucharest who passed away the week before the game "after a lengthy illness". The other two banners I noticed during the game said "Mândru că sunt român" (Proud to be Romanian) -the smaller one in the picture you posted- and "Mami sunt cu băieţii la meci" (Mom I'm at the game with the boys).

I know, one of our sports newspapers has recently published an article about Kennedy, as five years had passed from the injury, but I remember the game itself. Readers calling Ganea a 'criminal', 'hooligan' and 'neanderthal'. He once scored our winner against England, but he is all that.

I'm sorry to hear that. CFR are a technical side and rarely rely on force (apart from a wing back and striker Yssouf Kone), so I doubt it was in any way intentional. However, I do remember Ganea's dirty tackle against John Kennedy in that Scotland - Romania friendly. And it was a friendly! Fouling was completely uncalled for. Ganea's a certified hooligan, he grabbed a linesman by the throat in a championship game a couple of years ago and received a half year ban. I would've had him banned for life.

Well, there's going to be an interesting league game this Sunday evening, against 2008's champions CFR Cluj (who played in the Champions League group stage that same year, along with Steaua). I'll post the streams close to kick-off (18:45 GMT) for whoever is interested.

Haven't met any of you guys in person (wouldn't mind to!), but I felt at home on these forums and I'll make sure to keep an eye on Motherwell's SPL campaign - and hopefully another European one next year.

I think 2 out of 5 referees would have booked Stancu for diving. Like I wrote in some other thread, he was surrounded by amber shirts when he charged towards the box - no way he could've gone past them all. I think all he wanted to do was reach the edge of the box, make some contact and get a penalty. 2-1 for you would have been a fair score and no one in the Steaua camp could've said otherwise.

Right now I feel happy I hosted those students from Glasgow Uni a few years ago - makes me feel I had a minuscule contribution to the well-being of the Scottish people. Ain't gonna host any Irish ones this half of the century. So, anyway.. Do you feel you can make it to the top 4 in the SPL? As that would guarantee you another Euro adventure. It should definitely be your goal, I see you were only 5 points away this season.