Romania have one eye on the future ahead of Greece World Cup play-off

Adrian Mutu has been left out of the Romania squad to face Greece in the World Cup qualifying playoff. Photograph: Pascal Pochard Casabianca/AFP/Getty Images

Gheorghe Hagi's words seemed to stem from a moment of rage and no one took much notice. "You should be building statues of us. Yes, don't laugh! In a few years' time, our football will be gone."

Romania's national team were just about to leave for the 1998 World Cup in France and the feeling back home was that only a result equalling or bettering that of the previous World Cup would get the nation excited. They reached the quarter-finals at USA 94. In France, they beat England in the group stage and went into the last 16 full of hope and with their hair bleached blond but fell to earth with a bang, Croatia winning 1-0.

Romania have not been to a World Cup since. In 2000 Hagi retired and his thoughts from 15 years ago look prophetic now. Tournaments came and tournaments went without Romania qualifying. The eccentric aura of the team of the 90s – which included players such as Hagi, Ilie Dumitrescu, Gheorghe Popescu, Dan Petrescu, Adrian Ilie, Marius Lacatus – quickly gave way to mediocrity.

Hagi's sacred No10 shirt moved from player to player before it finally came into Adrian Mutu's possession. The former Chelsea forward was supposed to be the driving force behind a new "golden generation". It was not to be. Mutu's personal problems were a depressing reflection of an entire system that could not adapt to a post-Hagi era.

Mutu disappointed millions of Romanians with his two suspensions , first at Chelsea and then at Fiorentina, but still felt he was irreplaceable. After equalling Hagi's goal scoring record of 35 for the national team earlier this year, against Hungary, in Budapest, the 34-year-old Mutu thought he would crown his international career by playing in a World Cup in Brazil.

That now looks unlikely. Romania face Greece in Athens on Friday in the first leg of their World Cup qualifying play-off and Mutu is not in the squad. The forward has been omitted by the national coach, Victor Piturca, after complaining to the press about being left on the bench in the game against Holland in Amsterdam.

The Ajaccio forward was supported by most fans but Piturca does not care about that. Mutu went from being "annoyed" to "I will give Mr Piturca a call because the World Cup is my biggest dream".

Piturca, however, is trying to implement changes and at the moment the No10 shirt belongs to Steaua Bucharest's Cristian Tanase. Against Greece, the Romanian FA president, Mircea Sandu, wants the team "to create, to be attacking and to score in Athens. I hope Piturca finds a strategy that helps us score, we must do that!"

Piturca agrees about scoring but not about the style of play: "Did you see Juventus beat Napoli 3-0? How did they play? They were mainly defended in their own half and then attacked when they had the ball. That's what I want from my team."

So Romania will go to Greece and play counterattacking – against a team that still do not score many goals. They got 12 in 10 qualifying games and that was in a group that included Liechtenstein.

Romania's stars do not come from Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter, Juventus or Chelsea any more. The current key players are the Tottenham defender Vlad Chiriches – who will not play against Greece because of a broken nose – Ciprian Marica of Getafe, Steaua's Alexandru Bourceanu and the Genclerbirligi forward Bogdan Stancu.

Considering the players at his disposal the "Where did it all go wrong?" debate has been going for a while now. The reasons for the decline, however, are not hard to find: almost no grassroots football strategy, poor conditions for coaches and children wanting to become footballers, as well as huge changes in society as a whole.

Hagi set up his own academy in 2009 and there are hopes that it will soon start to produce a new group of players who can make Romania proud. "Football gave me a lot," he says. "In fact, it gave me everything. Football made me what I am, so I want to give something back. I can't stand us being regarded as a minor football country. We have quality, we have talent, we must rise again. We have to try and win every game, that's what my Romania would have done."

But until his words are heard by the current Facebook generation, Romania has to wait for a new heir. And there may be hope: Ianis Hagi, 15, has been scouted by some of the most famous clubs in the world and is Romania Under-16s' captain. And his father knows a thing or two about football.
can you watch match live live here link 1 link 2