Piturca admits Romania were second best

Romania coach Victor Piturca admitted his side came up short at the wrong time as their FIFA World Cup dreams were ended by Greece.

After a 3-1 defeat in Athens on Friday in the first leg of the qualifying play-off between the two teams, Romania had a two-goal deficit to overturn at home in Tuesday’s return clash, but found themselves further behind after Konstantinos Mitroglou opened the scoring midway through the first half.

Piturca’s side were able to level as Vasilis Torosidis conceded an own goal 10 minutes into the second half, but Romania were unable to further test Orestis-Spyridon Karnezis in the Greece goal and lost 4-2 on aggregate.

“Unfortunately, Greece have been better than us,” said Piturca after the draw in Bucharest. “We had possession, but without having big opportunities.

“We lost qualification in Athens.

“Too bad we did not manage to win and qualify. Romania was outdone in this campaign, that’s clear.”