Injured Romania trio to miss Northern Ireland qualifier

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania captain Razvan Rat, his defensive partner Florin Gardos and midfielder Lucian Sanmartean have been ruled of their top-of-the-table Euro 2016 Group F qualifier away to Northern Ireland on Saturday. The Romanian Football Federation (FRF) said on Friday the trio had joined a list of absentees which already includes injured goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon as well as experienced striker Ciprian Marica, who is recovering from knee surgery. Rat, capped 103 times by Romania, veteran playmaker Sanmartean and Gardos travelled to Belfast but they failed to recover in time and were not included in coach Anghel Iordanescu’s final squad for the game at Windsor Park. Laszlo Sepsi is expected to start for Rat, Dragos Grigore will deputise for Gardos alongside Vlad Chiriches in the heart of defence and Ovidiu Hoban will probably replace Sanmartean. "Northern Ireland are a strong team with a good nucleus of players, a team that caused us trouble in Bucharest and will undoubtedly do the same on their home ground on Saturday," Iordanescu said. The Irish have suffered only one defeat in the group so far, going down 2-0 to Romania in Bucharest in November. Unbeaten Romania lead the standings with 13 points from five matches, followed by Northern Ireland on 12. Hungary, who visit Finland on Saturday, are third with eight points. (Reporting by Angel Krasimirov; editing by Ken Ferris)