Two goals and a mark of 8.55 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Voluntari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Voluntari are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Marked 9.46 — 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.
George Merloi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Stefan Hagi kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Concordia Chiajna in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
In brief
The dugoutGeorge Merloi knocks on the manager's door
Paul Moldovan 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.
Something was said to Robert Burlacu and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Olimpia Satu Mare next, and one man in the Voluntari dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Kiki signs something — a contract at Voluntari or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sportivo Luqueno have kept their man, and Voluntari go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lovro Cvek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Stefan Hagi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrei Piţian trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Kiki signs something — a contract at Voluntari or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Radu Crişan
That is the business done at Voluntari until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Oscar Cáceres 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lovro Cvek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Robert Petculescu has come out of that comparison in the side, and Voluntari have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
In brief
The dugoutAndrei Piţian knocks on the manager’s door