Boss, hold on tight, because I've got news that'll make you curse every time you pass by a sports hall that isn't theirs! CSM Bucharest got shellacked in the Champions League handball semifinal, 27-32 against Metz, in Budapest. And it's not just about the score, but what followed: Radu Naum, the Digi Sport journalist, blew up live on air, and Narcisa Lecușanu, former great handball player, twisted the knife right where it hurts: "You don't have a home!"
Listen up, because it's a mess: Lecușanu said it straight: "CSM has a substantial, fundamental problem. They don't have a hall, you don't have 'a home.' You either play at Apollo, or at Rapid, or at the Polyvalent Hall - so when you don't have a home, you can't even say you have a long-term project." And just like that, with the hall rented here and there, the team ended up losing the semifinal to Metz, and now they're fighting for 3rd-4th place. That's not how you do it, bro! I for one wouldn't accept paying rent for a football field just to show off my BMW; and they, as a top team, don't even have their own hall?
But wait, Radu Naum didn't stop there. He said it cold-bloodedly: "A project without strong roots won't have results no matter how much the Bucharest City Hall wants it. It's a colossal shame! The Bucharest City Hall should have a hall, not CSM. This country, Romania, should have a hall in Bucharest." And just like that, joking, he proposed giving the Hungarians that old hall from Gyor. Man, madness! While in Tulcea they built a new hall for 120 million lei, almost ready - 96% - compared by locals to a UFO, in Bucharest, the capital, they don't have a handball hall for the Romanian champions. That's Romania: if you want performance, build your own hall with your own money, because the city hall isn't in a hurry.
Sunday they play the small final and the grand final, at 16:00 and 19:00 on Digi Sport 1. Metz plays the first final, and Gyor, the reigning champion, comes with 11 finals played, seven won. I say CSM has a chance at bronze, but only if they forget about this scandal. Otherwise, they're left with pretzels. I'm going to tell Mioara that in handball it's the same story: if you don't have a hall, you have no business chasing performance. Who pays? Us, the taxpayers, as always.
