FRANCE 98 – Albi (Tarn) celebrates the team of Romania

ROMANIA (Group G) left their base camp of “La Reserve” in Albi, where they had been staying since 7 June. On this occasion, a farewell ceremony was held at the hotel of the Romanian players, in the presence of the team of the city of Albi and the persons in charge of the “Albi in step with the World Cup” association. Anghel IORDANESCU’s men will not leave empty-handed, because on top of the presents offered to each player, they were given a square of the turf of their training pitch in Albi. This piece of turf has been transformed into a mini-replica of the Stade de France; it was decorated with a notice board reading: FRANCE 1 – ROMANIA 2.

Captain Gheorghe HAGI (10) and coach Anghel IORDANESCU spoke one after the other in the name of the team to thank their hosts.

Gheorghe HAGI (10), captain:

“I want to thank the city of Albi in the name of the team, for its support and for the way they spoiled us. We played in a very good atmosphere but we are already thinking about the next match against TUNISIA (Group G) on Friday 26 June. We can beat anybody technically. Our first objective was to get through the first round and we achieved that. Now, we want to go as far as possible in the competition and if we can, we’ll try to do better than we did four years ago in the UNITED STATES (Quarter finals).

Anghel IORDANESCU, coach:

“We are leaving Albi, but a part of our soul remains here. Your city will remain in history and in the hearts of our people. We are leaving behind some friends, some mates. But it will be a short separation, for these ties will last forever. The city of Albi is now known by 23 million people in ROMANIA.”