EURO 2016: Five things to know about Romania

MUST READ: Five things you need to know about Switzerland

MUST READ: All you need to know about GROUP A, GROUP B, GROUP C, GROUP D, GROUP E, GROUP F

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1) Hagi sorely missed

Romania no longer boast stars like Gheorge Hagi or ex-Fiorentina and Juventus striker Adrian Mutu who has not played international football since 2013.

Aside from Fiorentina goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu and VFB Stuttgart midfielder Alexandru Maxim, most of the squad languish at small clubs in Europe's top five leagues, or play in Eastern Europe, Turkey, or the Middle East.

Creative spirits and fan favourites like veteran playmaker Lucian Sanmartean, 36, who plays in Saudi Arabia, and Maxim, struggle to fit in to Iordanescu's style and may only play bit parts in France.

One of Romania's highest ever goalscorers and a European Cup medal winner with Steaua Bucharest in 1986, Anghel Iordanescu, 66, is nicknamed "the General" due to his long playing and managerial careers at Steaua, the former army side during the communist era.

Now in his third spell as coach, Iordanescu steered Romania to three major tournaments in a row during the 1990s including a run to the quarter-finals at the World Cup in 1994, led by the mercurial Gheorghe Hagi.

Iordanescu's cautious tactics and penchant for talking down his team's abilities have irked fans. But he insists only the results matter: Romania have not lost since June 2014.

Unbeaten in qualifying (five wins, five draws), Romania only conceded two goals, the best defensive record of any qualifier.

Although the group, won by Northern Ireland, was short on quality, Romania also impressed in a draw with Spain in a Euro 2016 warm-up game in Bucharest in March.

Their stability at the back is personified by experienced 35-year-old Razvan Rat, capped 108 times, and the dependable Vlad Chiriches, 26, now at Serie A side Napoli after two seasons in London with Spurs.

The flip side of Anghel Iordanescu's hard-work ethic is a lack of goals. His preferred strikers, like Turkish side Genclerbirligi's Bogdan Stancu, are strong on tracking back to defend but weak on scoring.

The qualifiers included three scoreless draws in a row with only a 3-0 win against the Faroe Islands boosting the goal difference.

If Romania need to beat Albania in the final group game, their lack of firepower may be exposed.

Iordanescu may opt to take a punt on Steaua Bucharest's Nicolae Stanciu, 22, who scored the winner in a Euro 2016 warm-up against Lithuania in March, his international debut.

Unlikely to cause an upset in the tournament opener against hosts France, Romania will look to score against Switzerland on the counter-attack, and beat Albania, one of the tournament's weakest sides, in the last group game.