Lucescu leaves the Romanian bench after failing to qualify for the World Cup. The Bosnia and Herzegovina national team is most to blame for this, having achieved two victories in direct clashes against Romania in the qualifiers under the leadership of Sergej Barbarez.
The Romanians had a chance to advance to the World Cup through the playoffs, but they were eliminated there by the Turkish national team.
Three days after the match against Romania (last Thursday), Lucescu was hospitalized because he fell ill during a national team training session due to heart problems.
An absolute giant of Romanian sports, he was the captain of the national team at the 1970 World Cup in Brazil and the coach at their debut at the 1984 European Championship.
Lucescu has coached clubs in Italy, Turkey—where he also led the national team—Ukraine, and Russia. He returned to the position of Romanian national team coach after a 38-year break to try to qualify for the World Cup in North America. However, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Turkey cost him dearly.
Interestingly, his successor will also face clashes with Bosnia and Herzegovina, as Romania is in the same Nations League group as our national team. The Nations League begins this autumn, after the World Cup concludes.
Recall that the great success of Bosnia and Herzegovina has already cost many Italians in important football positions dearly. Resignations have been submitted by the President of the Italian Football Federation Gabriele Gravina, a member of the national team's technical staff Gianluigi Buffon, and the departure of coach Gennaro Gattuso is expected soon.