Steaua and Cetatea Share Points in Tense Liga II Encounter
Steaua and Cetatea Suceava played out a 2-2 draw in the Liga II Regular Season on Saturday, 5 September. The result keeps Steaua rooted at the foot of the table while Cetatea moves into tenth place with eight points from six matches. And here's the thing — neither side looked like walking away with all three points by the final whistle.
The opening exchanges were fractious. By then, three yellow cards had already been shown: I. Tolea in the twenty-first minute, followed by G. Raducan and S. Visinar in quick succession around the twenty-second. A VAR review in the seventeenth minute cancelled a goal, and another attempt at the hour was also disallowed. Steaua took the lead through C. A. Albu in the forty-second minute, only for Cetatea's D. Bujor to equalise shortly after the interval.
What followed was a game that swung back and forth. Aftanache converted a penalty in the seventy-second minute to restore Steaua's advantage, but Camara responded in the eighty-fifth to level matters. The match ended with more controversy as another VAR goal was cancelled in stoppage time, and both sides collected additional bookings. To be fair, the intensity never dropped, even as the result seemed inevitable.
For Steaua, this is their second draw from six matches and remains their first point of the campaign. They have yet to register a win, sitting on just two points in twenty-second place. The recent form reads as a mix of frustration — three losses and a draw before this result, with only one victory to show from their opening five games.
Cetatea, meanwhile, have found more consistency. With eight points and two wins, they sit comfortably in the upper half of the table. Their last five matches include two victories, two draws, and a defeat — a pattern that suggests they can compete but still have room to improve. By then, both teams had seen enough to know this was a hard-fought draw.
The standings now place Cetatea six points clear of Steaua, though the gap means little in a league where results can shift quickly. What matters more is how both sides responded to the setbacks — the cancelled goals, the cards, the penalties. Neither side folded under pressure, and the points were shared.
Substitutions came at key moments: Perju in the fifteenth, Raducan again in the forty-sixth, and both Sumanariu and Aftanache in the seventy-eighth. The managers made their changes, but the result was already written in the goals and the late drama. Steaua will look to build on this point, while Cetatea will hope to maintain their position.
Eighteen yellow cards and two VAR cancellations defined a match that was never short of tension. The final whistle brought relief rather than celebration for either side, and the table reflects that balance. Steaua remain bottom, Cetatea sit in the middle — and both have work to do.