Dumitru Marcu
Romanian footballer and manager
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dumitru "Mitică" Marcu (born 9 April 1950) is a Romanian former professional football forward and manager.[1]
|
Dumitru Marcu in the early 1970s. | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 9 April 1950 | ||
| Place of birth | Drăghiceni, Romania | ||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1965–1970 | CFR Caracal | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1970–1971 | Steaua București | 16 | (4) |
| 1972–1980 | Universitatea Craiova | 203 | (63) |
| 1980–1981 | Mecanică Fină București | ||
| 1981–1982 | Steaua București | 7 | (0) |
| 1982–1984 | Mecanică Fină București | ||
| 1984–1987 | Gloria Buzău | 57 | (16) |
| Total | 283 | (83) | |
| International career‡ | |||
| 1971 | Romania U23 | 1 | (0) |
| 1972–1975 | Romania Olympic | 3 | (0) |
| 1972–1979 | Romania | 16 | (3) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1991–1993 | Jiul Petroșani | ||
| 1994–1995 | Extensiv Craiova | ||
| 1997 | Jiul Petroșani | ||
| 2000–2001 | Al-Wehda | ||
| 2002 | Universitatea Craiova (caretaker) | ||
| 2003–2004 | Jiul Petroșani | ||
| 2009 | CS Vulcan | ||
|
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 14 March 2018 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 14 March 2018 | |||
Club career
Marcu, nicknamed "Motoreta" (The Motorbike), was born on 9 April 1950 in Drăghiceni, Romania and began playing junior-level football in 1965 at CFR Caracal.[2][3] In 1970, he joined Steaua București, making his Divizia A debut on 29 November when coach Ștefan Kovács sent him in the 72nd minute to replace Nicolae Pantea in a 1–1 draw against Progresul București.[2][4][5] At the end of the season, the team won the Cupa României, but Kovács did not use him in the final.[4][6] Subsequently, he played in a 2–1 win over Barcelona which helped his side advance past the Catalans during the 1971–72 European Cup Winners' Cup campaign.[2][7]
In the middle of the 1971–72 season, Marcu left Steaua and joined Universitatea Craiova.[2][4] There, he was close to winning the title in the 1972–73 season, but they finished in second place on equal points with Dinamo București, losing controversially on goal difference.[2][8] This outcome led poet Adrian Păunescu to nickname Craiova as "Campioana unei mari iubiri" (The Champion of a great love).[8] In the first round of the 1973–74 UEFA Cup season, "U" Craiova got past Fiorentina, being eliminated in the following one by Standard Liège, with Marcu playing all four games in the campaign.[2][9] In the same season, Marcu was part of Craiova's team that won the league title, which was the club's first trophy, being used by coach Constantin Cernăianu in 24 matches in which he scored seven goals.[2][4][10] Subsequently, Marcu also won the 1976–77 Cupa României, when he played as a starter in the final, being replaced by coach Constantin Deliu with Rodion Cămătaru in the 2–1 win over his former side Steaua.[2][4][11] Furthermore, in the 1979–80 edition of the same competition, he was used the entire match by coach Ilie Oană in the final, scoring a goal in the 3–1 victory against Olimpia Satu Mare.[2][4][12] During the 1979–80 season, he played only one game under coach Valentin Stănescu as "U" Craiova won another league title.[2][4][10]
In 1980, Marcu went to play for Mecanică Fină București in Divizia B.[2][4] One year later, he returned to first-league football for a second spell at Steaua.[2][4] In 1982, he went back to Mecanică Fină.[2][4] The team was relegated to Divizia C at the end of the 1982–83 season, but Marcu stayed with the club, helping it gain promotion back to the second league after one year.[2][4] Afterwards, Marcu joined Gloria Buzău in 1984 where he scored a personal record of 12 goals in his first season.[2][4] On 26 October 1986, he made his last Divizia A appearance in a 4–0 loss to Argeș Pitești, totaling 283 matches with 83 goals in the competition and 14 games with three goals in European competitions.[2][3][4][13]
International career
From 1971 to 1975, Marcu made several appearances for Romania's under-23 and Olympic squads.[14]
Marcu played 16 matches and scored three goals for Romania.[15] He made his debut on 23 April 1972 when coach Gheorghe Ola sent him on at halftime to replace Radu Jercan in a 2–2 friendly draw in which he scored the final goal.[15][16] Subsequently, he made four appearances during the 1974 World Cup qualifiers, netting a brace in Romania's biggest ever victory, a 9–0 win against Finland.[15][17] He also played in a 2–0 home win over Bulgaria in the 1977–80 Balkan Cup.[15] Marcu's last appearance for the national team took place on 4 April 1979 in a 2–2 draw against Spain during the Euro 1980 qualifiers.[15]
International goals
- Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Marcu goal.[15]
| # | Date | Venue | Cap | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 23 April 1972 | Stadionul Republicii, Bucharest, Romania | 1 |  Peru | 2–2 | 2–2 | Friendly |
| 2 | 14 October 1973 | 23 August Stadium, Bucharest, Romania | 7 |  Finland | 2–0 | 9–0 | 1974 World Cup qualifiers |
| 3 | 4–0 |
Managerial career
Marcu began his coaching career at Jiul Petroșani in the second half of the 1990–91 Divizia A season, but the team was relegated at the end of the season.[4][13][18][19] However, Marcu continued to coach Jiul until 1993.[4][18] Subsequently, in 1994 he returned to first league football at Extensiv Craiova.[13] His next spell was at Jiul for a few rounds during the 1997–98 Divizia A season.[4][13][18] From 2000 to 2001, Marcu had his only experience coaching abroad in Saudi Arabia at Al-Wehda.[4][20] In 2002, Marcu was caretaker coach at Universitatea Craiova.[4][13] Afterwards, he worked for Jiul Petroșani from 2003 to 2004 and for CS Vulcan in 2009, with both spells in the Romanian lower leagues.[4][18][21] Between 2012 and 2016, he was the sporting director of Gloria Buzău.[22] Marcu has a total of 48 matches as a manager in the Romanian top-division, Divizia A, consisting of 13 victories, 8 draws and 27 losses.[13]