Ionuţ Lupescu warns Cristi Balaj: "Be careful on how you referee!"

The central of the match from Ştefan cel Mare, Cristi Balaj, was threatened indirectly by Ionuţ Lupescu that his delegation to the final Cup depends on how hw referees the Sunday match



CCA announced officially yesterday what Gazeta Sporturilor has written for the first time: that the match Dinamo - FC Braşov will be refereed by Romanians, and not by foreigners. The name of the "central"? Cristi Balaj. Why? Explained Ioan Igna, the president of CCA: "He is no. 1 in 2008". Behind the curtains of his delegation there are incredible events, which could have a great impact on his way of refereeing.





He was not allowed to referee after Borcea accused him

Balaj is going to referee Dinamo aftre he hasn’t been delegated for 5 laps after the match Timişoara - Farul 3-2, when Cristi Borcea accused him violently because he had given weirdly a penalty for the guests. "He should have miss for two laps, but I doubled the punishment so that he won’t believe that we defend him", said yesterday Igna. "If Borcea didn’t make scandal, he would have refereed after maximum one lap", said another member of CCA.







Everything depends on the "Kaiser"

Anyway, how did Balaj reached to be chosen? Ionuţ Lupescu called Ioan Igna a few days ago and announced him drily: "At the final of Romanian Cup I will make the delegation, the only thing you have to do is to put down on a piece of paper two referees". Balaj and Tudor have been nominated, and after Lupescu found out that the first one will referee Dinamo - Braşov, the two reached the conclusion: "The Sunday will be a test for him. If he referees well, then he has chances to officiate in the final. If not …".





The antecedent was Tudor

A similar situation happened exactly one year ago, before the decisive match Dinamo - Steaua 2-1. Lupescu decided then to referees Tudor, who he asked to come in his office before the match and gave him a few pieces of advice: "It would be convenient to maintain the equilibrium in this match", this was one of the counsels, Tudor being accused after the match by the players from Steaua that he hadn’t eliminated Bratu.



Why is this delegation suspect?



1. CCA accepted not to make a lot with respect to the referees’ team and name Balaj, although the two clubs didn’t indicate Balaj to rule the match.



2. Balaj comes back after 5 laps of suspension and the internal procedure of CCA says that after a very long interruption it is not indicated to be sent to a match with great stake.







3. Borcea accused violently Balaj three weeks ago, but CCA and FRF didn’t attend to this thing and they delegated him.



4. At CCA it was known that this match will be refereed by Balaj just before the match Urziceni - Dinamo! Which is the argument? Igna was observer in the match Braşov - Oţelul 1-1, which was disputed on Friday, and he asked Dinu Gheorghe then if he agrees with the Romanian referees.





5. Braşov accepted immediately the variant of the Romanian referees, they even sent a fax with respect to this matter at CA, instead, Dinu Gheorghe declared to the press that the team from Braşov asked for foreign referees.



He refused to make business with Borcea

Another important detail is the fact revealed by GSP few weeks ago, that Balaj refused to make business Borcea. In 2006, the official from Dinamo asked to the "central" to be in charge of the company Crimbo Gas Transilvania, but the referees refused. Borcea called Balaj immediately after he found out the topic of Gazeta. "I can see that you started to speak about Crimbo Gas...", said the "dogs’" boss, and then Balaj hanged up.



"Why does Lupescu involve in arbitration? Didn’t they learn anything from the lesson they received from DNA?"

Ion Crăciunescu, former referee at FIFA