Bucharest European Preview Part 2

By Simon P from NSNO - Posted by John P
September 15 2005

Everton go to Dinamo Bucharest today without a host of key players, including the recently revealed injured Beattie, but we won't let that bother us, will we?

Per Kroldrup (groin), Lee Carsley (knee), Gary Naysmith (ankle), James Vaughan (knee) and Alessandro Pistone (knee) are all missing, as well as James Beattie, who "felt his toe" again during a reserve game on Tuesday. We'll make no jokes about him being able to see them. But, Phil Neville will be welcome on his return from suspension, as his presence in the holding role he has taken to at Everton was sorely missed as the Blues went down to Portsmouth on Saturday.

The Blues to to Bucharest, however, with a couple of new faces. One of whom, Nuno Valente, won the Champions League with former club Porto, and Matteo Ferrari has a great deal of European experience from his time at Inter Milan.

Youngsters John Ruddy, Mark Hughes, and Victor Anichebe all join the Blues in Romania, but are unlikely to feature as David Moyes aims to keep the home side at bay, something he knows will be difficult, as he saw them triumph 6-0 over FCM Bacau on Sunday.

Bucharest play at Soseaua Stefan cel Mare, a 15,000 capacity stadium which looks more like Kirkby Sports Centre than a football stadium fit to hold a Uefa Cup tie, but the crowd can still make it a very intimidating place to visit. In the last round, Dinamo beat Omonia Nicosia 3-1, and the crowd played their part in the victory in no small way, and have been quoted as making the stadium "the most hostile place to play in Romania for visiting teams" - nice.