Angelo Niculescu (1 October 1921 â 20 June 2015) was a Romanian football player and manager. He is best remembered in Romania for being the national team's coach during the 1970 World Cup. Niculescu is also credited with inventing the "temporizare" ("delaying") tactics. This strategy involved the team maintaining possession of the ball within its own half, with players exchanging numerous short passes across the field. The goal was to disrupt opponents' patience and force them to press high. This approach is often considered an early form of tiki-taka. Using these tactics, Niculescu qualified Romania for a World Cup after more than 30 years and secured a notable win against Czechoslovakia.
Niculescu was born on 1 October 1921 in Craiova, Romania and began playing football in 1937 at age 15 in Divizia B at local club Rovine GriviÃÂa. In 1939 he moved to play for neighboring team, FC Craiova with whom he won the 1942âÂÂ43 championship which was not recognized by the Romanian Football Federation because the teams from Transylvania were unable to participate as the territory was annexed to Hungary due to the Second Vienna Award. During World War II his career was interrupted for a while as he was called by the Romanian Army to fight on the Eastern Front. In 1945, Niculescu joined Carmen BucureÃÂti where he stayed two years. Subsequently, he moved to Ciocanul BucureÃÂti which after one year merged with Carmen to create Dinamo BucureÃÂti where he played in the following two years, ending his career at age 29 in which he earned a total of 93 Divizia A appearances with three goals.
Niculescu started coaching in 1952 at Dinamo BucureÃÂti's junior center. One year later he became the head coach of the senior squad which he helped to win their first Divizia A title in 1955. He also reached the 1954 Cupa României final which was lost with 2âÂÂ0 to Metalul ReÃÂiÃÂa. He led the team in the first European match of a Romanian team in the 1956âÂÂ57 European Cup in the 3âÂÂ1 victory against Galatasaray, helping Dinamo reach the next phase of the competition where they were eliminated by CDNA Sofia. Niculescu left Dinamo in 1957 and had two short experiences at Steaua BucureÃÂti and Tractorul BraÃÂov. Subsequently, he returned to Dinamo in 1964, helping the club win another Divizia A title in the 1964âÂÂ65 season. He has a total of 16 matches in European competitions, all with The Red Dogs, resulting in 10 victories and 6 losses. One of his most important European victories was the historical 2âÂÂ1 over Helenio Herrera's Inter Milan in the 1965âÂÂ66 European Cup edition, the Italians being the winners of the previous two seasons of the competition. Niculescu said after the game:"I am happy that Herrera's "concrete" was broken by the movement on the field of our players. With fair refereeing we would have won even more clearly". However, they lost the second leg with 2âÂÂ0.
Niculescu was named coach of Romania's national team in 1967, making his debut in a 1âÂÂ0 home loss to Italy in the Euro 1968 qualifiers. He guided the national team through the successful 1970 World Cup qualifiers where they earned first place in a group composed of Greece, Switzerland and Portugal. Thus they qualified for the final tournament after a 32-year absence. There, they earned a 2âÂÂ1 victory against Czechoslovakia, but lost with 1âÂÂ0 to title holders England and with 3âÂÂ2 to the eventual winners of the Mexican tournament Brazil. He was heavily criticized because he did not use Nicolae Dobrin in any games during the final tournament, and while the reasons Niculescu didn't use him are unclear, Dobrin's absence is considered one of the most controversial moments in the history of Romanian football. He also guided the national team during the 1972 Euro qualifiers where they earned first place in a group with Czechoslovakia, Wales and Finland, thereby reaching the quarter-finals. There, Romania was defeated by Hungary, who advanced to the final tournament. His last game as Romania's manager took place on 29 October 1972 in a 2âÂÂ0 home victory against Albania in the 1974 World Cup qualifiers, totaling 38 matches consisting of 12 victories, 17 draws and 9 losses.
For representing his country at the 1970 World Cup, Niculescu was decorated by President of Romania Traian BÃÂsescu on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" â (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.
In 1973, Niculescu went to coach Sportul StudenÃÂesc BucureÃÂti until 1977. Afterwards he worked for two years at Politehnica TimiÃÂoara where in the 1977âÂÂ78 season he was close to winning the championship as the team was leading with three rounds before the end of the season, but after a 4âÂÂ2 loss to Dinamo, they ended the championship in third place, three points behind the champions Steaua.
From 1979 until 1980 he had a third spell at Dinamo, then he coached SC BacÃÂu for one season. Subsequently, he moved to Universitatea Cluj for two seasons where in the first one, the team was relegated to Divizia B. Niculescu ended his coaching career in 1984 after one season spent at OÃÂelul GalaÃÂi, having a total of 445 Divizia A matches, consisting of 196 victories, 101 draws and 148 losses.
After the 1989 Romanian Revolution, he went to work as technical director in Tunisia at Club Africain, bringing Ilie Balaci as head coach. In their single season at the club, they won the CAF Champions League, Tunisian League and the Tunisian Cup.
Niculescu is known in Romania for inventing the "temporizare" ("delaying") tactics. This strategy involved the team maintaining possession of the ball within its own half, with players exchanging numerous short passes across the field. The goal was to disrupt opponents' patience and force them to press high. This approach is often considered an early form of tiki-taka. Using these tactics, Niculescu qualified Romania for a World Cup after more than 30 years and secured a notable win against Czechoslovakia. In 2011 FIFA named Niculescu the inventor of the tiki-taka style of play and so did UEFA in 2014.
Niculescu started writing chronicles, comments and match analysis in 1958 as a journalist for the "Sportul popular" newspaper. He also wrote two volumes about football:
He had four brothers and one of them, Jean Niculescu, was a footballer at Olympia BucureÃÂti. Niculescu died on 20 June 2015 in his apartment in Bucharest and was buried in the Ghencea Military Cemetery. The president of FIFA, Joseph Blatter said: "Please accept my condolences for the passing of former player and coach Angelo Niculescu. He will be remembered for his contribution to Romanian football, especially as the inventor of the tiki-taka style of play."
Dinamo BucureÃÂti