BUCHAREST (Reuters) - The poor condition of the pitch affected Romania's performance in their laboured 1-0 home win over Group F underdogs the Faroe Islands in Sunday's Euro 2016 qualifier in Ploiesti, said coach Anghel Iordanescu.
Against the well-organised Faroes, the Romanians struggled to get their zippy passing game going on the Ilie Oana stadium's surface that appeared in a bad state after a couple of rainy days and favoured the physically stronger visitors.
"The quality of the game was influenced by the state of the pitch," said Iordanescu. "A technical team like Romania, with a lot of skilful players, need a good pitch.
"It's fundamental that the grass is in good shape. On a pitch in bad condition everything becomes more equal."
It was only the second competitive game that Romania have played in the town of Ploiesti, located 56km north of the capital Bucharest. Romania thrashed Luxembourg 4-0 in a Euro 2004 qualifier in the first one at the Ilie Oana stadium.
"We wanted to play in Ploiesti because of the fans but the organisers should have prepared a better surface," Iordanescu said.
The victory ensured Romania remained top of the standings with 13 points from five matches, one point ahead of Northern Ireland, who beat Finland 2-1 also on Sunday.
"Indeed, it was a hard-fought victory but we deserved it. These three points are very important... And we missed some key players like Ciprian Marica and Bogdan Stancu," added Iordanescu.
Strikers Marica and Stancu plus goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu and midfielder Alexandru Chipciu were all unavailable due to injuries.
Romania visit Northern Ireland in their next qualifier in June while the Faroe Islands host Greece.