Marked for Bogdan Mitrita
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Viitorul's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Viitorul has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Ionut Bancu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match26 Sep 2026
FCSB left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Marius Nita gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Bogdan Mitrita dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 39. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match21 Sep 2026
Viitorul are in real trouble now
Position 8, 8 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Viitorul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Marius Nita has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Viitorul will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ciprian Hagi changes it off the bench
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Viitorul had a different afternoon.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Chances created: 6. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
Yoichi Naganuma was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Dragos Iancu gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market14 Sep 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Bogdan Mitrita's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Viitorul, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market14 Sep 2026
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Bogdan Cicaldau leaves Viitorul the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.