Moldova and Romania will be looking to get the better of each other when they renew hostilities in an international friendly at Stadionul Zimbru on Sunday.
The teams head into this weekend's meeting off the back of respective defeats and now set out to return to winning ways in their final outing of 2022.
Match preview
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Moldova saw their three-game winning streak come to an end courtesy of a narrow 2-1 defeat at the hands of Azerbaijan on Wednesday evening.
First-half goals from Emin Mahmudov and Aleksey Isayev left Serghei Clescenco's men with a mountain to climb before Nichita Motpan pulled one back in second-half stoppage time.
Consequently, the Selectionata have lost all three friendly matches in 2022, with their last victory in a warm-up fixture coming back in June 2021.
Next up is the challenge of an opposing outfit who have a near perfect record in the previous meetings between the teams, winning three and drawing one of four clashes.
Having managed to find the back of the net in each of their most recent five matches on home turf, Sunday's hosts know that they just need to sort out their defensive frailties to stand a good chance of coming out on top in this one.
Romania just about came away empty-handed from Thursday's encounter versus Slovenia at the Cluj Arena, which ended in an agonising 2-1 defeat.
Edward Iordanescu's men paid the price for a poor opening 45 minutes in which they conceded to Benjamin Sesko and Andraz Sporar, after which Denis Dragus got on the scoresheet.
As a result, the Tricolorii have now been beaten in five of their last nine matches across all competitions, winning just two times in that time.
Still without a triumph on enemy territory since the turn of the year, Sunday's visitors go in search of a morale-boosting victory away from home where they will kick off their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.
Team News
Romania's Claudiu Petrila was handed his maiden outing against Slovenia, and the 22-year-old will be pushing for a full debut in this weekend's contest.
Twenty-three-year-old Denis Dragus grabbed his first international goal in the aforementioned game which was only his fourth involvement for the away side.
Nichita Motpan came off the bench to good effect for Moldova last time out which could see him handed a place in the starting lineup here.
Igor Amas is now up to 62 caps, and the defender continues to close in on Alexandru Epureanu at the top of his nation's all-time appearance charts.
Moldova possible starting lineup:
Celeadnic; Revenco, Iovu, Armas, Dumbravanu, Reabciuk; Cociuc, Ionita; Rata, Damascan, Caimacov
Romania possible starting lineup:
Moldovan; Manea, Nedelcearu, Burca, Vatajelu; Marin, Marin, Cicaldau; Cordea, Puscas, Dragus
We say: Moldova 1-3 Romania
Romania's vastly superior record in this fixture means that it is hard to envisage any other result than an away victory. While the visitors have been largely underwhelming on the road of late, we are tipping them to carry the day in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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