Kekso

I went downtown earlier today, lots of Chelsea fans in blue shirts, young and old. Most of the pubs and bars are all blue if you look inside (there's even a huge Chelsea FC flag smack in the middle of a popular square), waiters carrying loads of pints.. There's a very friendly atmosphere. I can't wait to be at the stadium. :o P.S. Also, I saw Ray Wilkins jogging down a street near the hotel. I had a friend on the passenger seat wearing a Chelsea shirt, we honked and he waved back at us.

Cluj will likely field the same team as against Roma: --------------Stancioiu-------------- Tony---Cadu---De Sousa--Pereira ---------------Muresan-------------- Dubarbier-----Dani-----------Culio -----------------Trica---------------- -----------------Kone----------------

Ahh. My area of expertise. I still think Chelsea should win, but as opposed to two weeks ago, I fancy Cluj's chances of reaching the knock-out stage. They beat Roma and Bordeaux shouldn't be a problem at home, that's 6 points in the bag. With a couple of hard-earned draws against Roma and away in France, a comfortable 8 points should be enough (if Chelsea win everything and I hope they do). I've got my tickets, can't wait for Wednesday's game. By the way, the Cluj fans didn't prepare a choreography for the game against Steaua this Friday, even though it was a derby opposing the champions and runners-up of last season. They said they were saving all their material for the Chelsea game, so expect a beautiful atmosphere. As a side note, 'Super Dan' is currently managing Romanian minnows Unirea Urziceni, also involved in European games, but in the UEFA Cup. In the first leg, they drew 0-0 with Hamburg, away. The second leg is this Thursday, keep an eye on it. Urziceni are small team from a small town (Cluj are viewed as a super-club when compared to them), so it's quite something for Petrescu's team to have held Hamburg on their own ground. He's one of the most promising coaches in Romania and it has even been said that he will take over the national team after the WC Qualifiers.

Romanian First League: CFR Cluj 1-1 Steaua Both teams are in the Champions League Group Stage. Steaua's 9th minute goal against CFR

Yes, I know. ;) HIGHLIGHTS The passing that led to the 1-1 goal was superb.

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/ucl/fixtu.../report=rp.html Objectively speaking.. Cluj were better. Roma controlled the first 20 minutes of the game, but then it was all Cluj. Roma's Cicinho committed a vicious foul as a last defender in the second half, he should have received a red card. Both teams hit the post, but Cluj had more shots on target (9 versus Roma's 4). They played fantastically, both regular play and counter-attacks and deserved their win.

Final result: AS Roma 1-2 CFR Cluj (Panucci 17' / Culio 27', 49')

Thanks for trying to bring the thread back on track. Well on paper it's Yssouf Koné. You might have heard of him, he played against Chelsea last year while at Rosenborg. But frankly I haven't seen him play much and during interviews he seems rather bored and uncaring, so don't expect him to run his legs off. The other players form a tightly-knit group though. While playing together they've won the Championship, Cup and tickets for this Champions League adventure. They've worked their way up and for most of them it will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to catch the interest of major European clubs. As a downside, they have very little international experience. They'll play with passion, but make mistakes. Apart from Koné, Cluj only have one goalmouth striker: "Didi" Silva, who likes to flick it in from the six-yard box. Not very spectacular, but it gets the job done. They generally crowd that area, block the keeper's view and then either pass it to Didi for a quick finish or have somebody shoot from inside the penalty area, so the team scores a lot using its attacking midfielders and wingers - like Trica, Dubarbier or Culio. No set piece specialist, so they prefer to just cross it into the box, which is just what English defenders are used to. But in regular play they use short passes a lot - I guess it comes natural for a team made up of technical Portuguese, Argentinian and Brazilian players. Romanian football itself is somewhat similar to that of Portugal, only less technicality and more power. Also, Cluj are better than Levski. You have to remember that they've won the Romanian first league and behind them on second place were Steaua, a team that is part of what I like to call upper middle class European football. In the past three years Steaua have defeated teams like Valencia (2-0), Dynamo Kyiv (4-1), Galatasaray (1-0), Lens (4-0), Betis Seville (3-0), Besiktas (2-1) or Standard Liege (2-0). Sincer Cluj have no real European pedigree, I can only compare them to Steaua.. And last season they were better. I wouldn't want to pass judgment before I see Cluj play against Roma tonight, but at this moment I think Chelsea should win both games, with a two or three goal difference on SB. I think I'll pass. I joined these forums to be of some help to Chelsea fans, not to nitpick and get into online disputes about things that are irrelevant to football.

Propaganda?! I was asked where the name of the city came from. "Cluj" comes from "clusa" (ravine) and "Napoca" is the name of the ancient Roman settlement. That is where the name comes from and that is what I wrote. Period. When asked where the name "London" comes from, I doubt any Englishman will mention the Vikings, the Battle of Hastings, the Great Plague and the Gunpowder Plot. Get over yourself.

Why would I "edit" anything? I picked the most relevant phrases. The article is there for everybody to see anyway.

Shamelessly stolen off Wikipedia:

I know! Too bad I won't be able to wear my shirt at the game without risking harassment from local team fans (which I support as well to some extent). But perhaps I'll get an autograph or two from the players/managing staff if I wander around their hotel or training ground. @loz: It will definitely be full. Teams like Chelsea generate a craze. Even people who aren't Cluj or Chelsea fans are likely to come from neighbouring counties and even countries just to see the game, like when Real Madrid played in Bucharest against Steaua a couple of years ago. As for the atmosphere, it's nice - there's chanting, flags, but nothing out of the ordinary. You have to take into account that the club was playing in the lower leagues only a few years ago, when match attendance was into the low hundreds. So there's only a small nucleus of old fans, the rest have come with the club's recent money spending and successes. I expect few rowdy fans and more general football enthusiasts who would just like to enjoy a Champions League game against last year's finalists. The management is very western-minded, so they'll probably go to great lengths to turn the game into something memorable.

Hello to you all. I'm a 21 year old Law student living in Cluj, Romania (home of Chelsea's Champions League rivals) and have been a Blues fan since the days of Dan Petrescu. I assume CFR Cluj are relatively unknown to most of you, so I would gladly answer any questions you may have on the team and city.