The last home game of the regular season’s first half is coming up, with Petrolul Ploiești visiting Miercurea Ciuc. A win could lift us several places in the standings.
The last home game of the regular season’s first half is coming up, with Petrolul Ploiești visiting Miercurea Ciuc. A win could lift us several places in the standings.
The “Yellow Wolves” are no strangers to Harghita. Their club’s history includes a turbulent period marked by ownership changes and insolvency proceedings, during which football in the oil city had to be reorganized. As a result, the team now known as Petrolul spent several seasons in Liga 2, two of them alongside us — and they won all four encounters, three by a single goal (0–1, 1–2, 1–2) and one by two goals (0–2).
Since that last meeting on August 18, 2021, we haven’t crossed paths again — Petrolul won that season and have been competing in the top flight ever since. The club is one of Romania’s most prestigious, although few know that it was founded in Bucharest on December 31, 1924, under the name Juventus. It moved to Ploiești in 1952, gradually adopting the name Petrolul Ploiești, used continuously since 1957. It won its first national title as Juventus in 1930, and as Petrolul it became Romanian champion three times (1958, 1959, 1966) and lifted the Romanian Cup three times as well, most recently in 2013. Since 2011, the team has been playing at the new Ilie Oană Stadium.
As for their current form, it’s below their expectations — they have collected the same 12 points as we have. Still, they’ve won their last two games 1–0 against CFR and FC Argeș, keeping clean sheets in both, and all four of their most recent matches ended 1–0.
Given these circumstances, a tactical, closed match can be expected against a team that defends well. The schedule doesn’t help us either, as Ilyés Róbert’s men are playing roughly every four days. “As a coach, I don’t like that, because we can’t prepare thoroughly for each opponent, but so far it’s gone well — we’ve managed to collect points. The players enjoy it though, because they prefer playing to training. Our opponent has a good coach; since he arrived, their team has become more stable and they haven’t conceded in their last two matches. It will be very hard to break them down. I expect a tight game with few chances, but there could be key moments — from set pieces or long shots — that open the match and give us more scoring opportunities,” said head coach Ilyés Róbert at the pre-match press conference.
He also noted that there are no suspensions in the squad, but Jozef Dolný will miss the match due to a knee injury suffered in Wednesday’s training session.
Also present at the press conference were Soufiane Jebari, man of the match in Sibiu and scorer of a memorable goal securing our victory, and János Hegedűs, whose recent performances have drawn praise from Romanian analysts, calling him one of the best central defenders in the Superliga.
A potential FK victory would extend our seven-match unbeaten run (since the September 1 draw against Oțelul Galați) and could move us above today’s visitors in the standings — and possibly closer to Universitatea Cluj, currently 10th with only two more points.
Kick-off is at 17:30 at the Municipal Stadium, broadcast live on Digi Sport 1 and Prima Sport 1. Tickets are still available at the stadium ticket office, which opens at 15:30.
Text by Rédai Attila
Photo by Pál Zoltán