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For Dan Petrescu, one of Romania’s golden generation of players who successfully represented his country at the 1994 and 1998 editions of the FIFA World Cup, the first ever tournament in the Arab world will have an inspirational effect across the entire region. |
“I think football is not as big yet as in Europe, but it was the same effect in America,” said Petrescu. “Before 1994, no one knew soccer. I am sure that after the World Cup in Qatar the football in the region will be better. And all the stadiums here will be full for the tournament.”
The former Chelsea player, who is now the coach at Qatar Stars League side Al Arabi, was pleased to hear about the development of the technology used for cooling stadiums, fan zones and training pitches: “We really need this cooling. It will be a fantastic job if they can do it before the World Cup so people can train and play in the same conditions. In the 1994 World Cup in the USA we played against Switzerland in a stadium with the roof closed, and we suffered a lot because the conditions were so hot. So I think to have cooling in stadiums will be a good thing for players to bring their best performances.”
After visiting the offices of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy in Doha to hear about the plans for a compact 2022 FIFA World Cup™, Petrescu added: “I was always very curious how a World Cup is prepared, and for me this is fantastic, something new. I was just a player in two World Cups. It is nice to see how many people are working to have a good World Cup. From what I see I am sure that the World Cup is going to be very good in Qatar.”
Having seen former side Chelsea get off to a successful start to the new season, Petrescu said that he expected them to challenge for honours again this year: “Chelsea is much better this year than last. Even Mourinho said that they were not going to compete for the league last year, but this year they are very strong, and I think they will compete all the way with Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United.”
With Romania qualifying to the second round in both of Petrescu’s FIFA World Cup™ participations, the former defender said that the next two editions of the tournament were the clear objectives for his football-mad nation: “We haven’t qualified for a World Cup for 20 years, after my generation. Maybe this team will reach Euro 2016 in France, but I hope they can qualify to the World Cup because that is the main competition; for Russia 2018 and also Qatar in 2022.”
Reminiscing on his own favourite memories of scoring important goals at the world’s greatest football tournament, Petrescu said: “Scoring two winning goals in the last minute; against USA in 1994 and against England in 1998, of course you cannot forget these moments”.
