On Sunday, at the Ungheni Municipal Stadium, the first leg of one of the four «MAGIRUS» district Cup quarterfinals was played: FC Regina Maria Ungheni – FC Unirea Cetireni. The hosts won 2-0, according to the announcement by the Cetireni club, which admitted it «did not play its best game» but was keen to stress that nothing is over: «Qualification for the semifinal is not yet decided, the return leg is in a week, at home!».
The winners, for their part, confirmed the result and named the goalscorers. On its page, FC Regina Maria Ungheni announced the 2-0 win and specified that the goals were scored by Oleg Sanduleac and Vasea Gaitur. «Next Sunday we travel to Cetireni for the decisive match, where we will fight for qualification», the Ungheni club said — a sign that the hosts, too, see the return leg as still open.
The match is part of the quarterfinal stage, whose bracket we presented on 29 June. Like the rest of the «MAGIRUS» Cup, the quarterfinals are played over two legs — home and away — and this was only the first half of the tie. For Unirea Cetireni, the arithmetic is now simple and harsh: the two goals conceded away must be recovered on their own ground, or the run ends in the quarterfinals.
Where it sits in the bracket
The Regina Maria – Cetireni tie is one of the four quarterfinals. The other three pairs are FC Sculeni – FC Zagarancea, FC Speranța Semeni – FC Mănoilești and FC Haiduc Bumbăta – FC Barsa Ungheni — the last of which was the fixture we flagged as the peak of this edition. The four ties will produce the semifinalists, and the competition continues on the same knockout principle, toward the final.
Why the return at Cetireni matters
For Cetireni, a village in the district, reaching the quarterfinals is no small thing. At this level, making the Cup’s penultimate act is lived in the village as a small promotion, and a home return leg with a place in the next round on the line brings people to the touchline. That is why the second leg — in which Cetireni must overturn a 0-2 in front of their own supporters — becomes, for a week, the village’s match.
The score, initially reported by the Cetireni club, is now confirmed by FC Regina Maria Ungheni as well — which also named the goalscorers — and by the official results of the round, published by the Ungheni Territorial Football Association, the organizer of the competition.