Club career
Prunea was born on 8 August 1968 in București, Romania. [1] [2] [3] He began playing junior-level football in 1977 when he went to play for Steaua București, but was rejected there and shortly afterwards went to rivals, Dinamo București. [1] [2] [3] [4] There, coach Fane Stănculescu used him as a striker in his first three years and then he worked with Gheorghe Timar who started using him as a goalkeeper. [2] [4] Later in his youth career he was coached by Iosif Varga, and also during these years he was teammates with future national team competitor Bogdan Stelea. [2] [3] [4] [5]
Prunea made his Divizia A debut on 31 May 1986 under coach Mircea Lucescu in Dinamo's 5–0 loss to Sportul Studențesc București. [1] [2] [3] [6] However, he made only a few appearances in the first three seasons as his childhood idol, Dumitru Moraru, was still the first choice goalkeeper of The Red Dogs . [1] [2] [3] Thus, he and other players were sent to Universitatea Cluj in exchange for Ioan Sabău. [3] [7] After two seasons spent as first choice goalkeeper at "U" Cluj, he joined Universitatea Craiova. [1] [2] [8] In his first season he helped Craiova win The Double, being used by coach Sorin Cârțu in 32 league matches, also playing in the 2–1 victory in the Cupa României final against FC Bacău. [1] [2] [9] [10] In 1992, Prunea returned to Dinamo, where he lived his most steady period, remaining with the team for six seasons but without winning any trophies. [1]
In the following years he switched many teams, first returning for a second spell at "U" Cluj. [1] Then Prunea had his first experience abroad by playing for Turkish side Erzurumspor. [1] He made his Süper Lig debut on 9 August 1998 under coach Sadi Tekelioğlu in a 5–1 away loss to Gençlerbirliği, totaling 11 matches in the competition. [1] [11] Subsequently, Prunea returned to Romania and played just one game in the 1999–2000 season for Astra Ploiești. [1] He then joined "U" Craiova for the rest of the season, managing not to concede any goals for 633 consecutive minutes. [1] [12] Prunea had his second experience abroad, when he went to Litex Lovech in Bulgaria where he was teammates with fellow Romanian Valeriu Răchită. [1] [13] There, he was in the center of a controversy, being accused of match fixing after a game against Levski Sofia. [14]
He returned to Dinamo in the middle of the 2000–01 season, helping them win the Cupa României, being used by coach Cornel Dinu in the 4–2 victory in the final against Rocar București. [1] [15] In the following season he helped the club win the title, but coaches Dinu and Marin Ion used him in only six games, as the team's first choice goalkeeper was Bogdan Lobonț. [1] [9] In the last years of his career, Prunea had two spells at FCM Bacău which were separated by a period spent at FC Brașov. [1] Afterwards he had his third and final spell abroad at Super League Greece team Skoda Xanthi, where he was colleagues with compatriot Stelian Carabaș. [1] [16] Prunea ended his career at Național București where he made his last Divizia A appearance on 5 November 2005 in a 3–2 loss to Oțelul Galați, having a total of 383 matches in the competition, also totaling 17 games in European competitions (including three in the Intertoto Cup). [1]
International career
1994 World Cup and Euro 1996
He made another three appearances during the successful 1994 World Cup qualifiers. [17] He was part of the "Golden Generation" that went to the final tournament. [17] [19] Coach Anghel Iordănescu used him in only one game in the group stage, where he kept a clean sheet in the 1–0 victory against USA, whereas Bogdan Stelea was preferred in the first two. [17] [20] Prunea played from the round of 16 onwards, as they got past Argentina with a 3–2 win, reaching the quarter-finals where they faced Sweden. [17] [21] There, with five minutes remaining in extra time, his side was leading 2–1. [17] [20] [22] However, Prunea failed to intercept a 40-meter cross in time, allowing striker Kennet Andersson to level the score at 2–2. [17] [20] [22] As a result, the game went to penalties, where Sweden won 5–4. [17] [20] [22]
Prunea played one game in the successful Euro 1996 qualifiers. [17] At the final tournament, the team lost all three group stage games against France, Bulgaria and Spain. [17] [23] Iordănescu used him only in the 2–1 loss to the Spanish side. [17] [23]
Final years
He played two games during the successful 1998 World Cup qualifiers and was selected by Iordănescu to be part of the final tournament squad, but did not play there. [17] [24] Prunea was also selected by coach Emerich Jenei to be part of the Euro 2000 final tournament squad, but again without playing there. [17] [25] On 25 April 2001 he made his last appearance for the national team in 0–0 friendly draw against Slovakia. [17]
For representing his country during 1990–2000 at the World and European Cups final tournaments, Prunea was decorated by President of Romania Traian Băsescu on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III. [26]
International stats
Appearances and goals by national team and year [17] | National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|
| Romania | 1990 | 2 | 0 |
| 1991 | 6 | 0 |
| 1992 | 0 | 0 |
| 1993 | 8 | 0 |
| 1994 | 10 | 0 |
| 1995 | 2 | 0 |
| 1996 | 6 | 0 |
| 1997 | 1 | 0 |
| 1998 | 1 | 0 |
| 1999 | 0 | 0 |
| 2000 | 3 | 0 |
| 2001 | 2 | 0 |
| Total | 41 | 0 |
|---|
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