Gheorghe Gornea

Gica Gornea
	Gornea in 1970
Personal information
Full name	Gheorghe Gornea
Date of birth	2 August 1944
Place of birth	Sinaia, Prahova County, Romania
Date of death	2005 (aged 60–61)
Place of death	Sinaia, Romania
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years	Team
1963–1964	Carpați Sinaia
1964–1966	Steaua București
1966–1971	UTA Arad
1971–1972	Minerul Baia Mare
1972–1973	CSM Reșița
1973–1976	Rapid Arad
Total
International career
1968–1970	Romania
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gheorghe Gornea (2 August 1944 – 2005) was a Romanian football goalkeeper.

Club career

Gheorghe Gornea was born on 2 August 1944 in Sinaia, Romania and he started playing football at Carpați Sinaia, before transferring at Steaua București where he made his Divizia A debut on 30 August 1964 in a 4–0 away victory against Știința Craiova.^[1]^[2] In his second season spent at Steaua he won the Cupa României, going afterwards to play for UTA Arad where in his five years spent at the club he won two Divizia A titles, being used by coach Nicolae Dumitrescu in 30 games in the first one and in 29 matches in the second one.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] He also helped the team by having an appreciated performance when they eliminated the defending European Cup champions Feyenoord in the 1970–71 European Cup season, having a total of 6 appearances in the competition over the course of two seasons.^[1]^[2] Gornea went to play for one season in Divizia B at Minerul Baia Mare, afterwards transferring at CSM Reșița, being brought there by his former coach from UTA, Ioan Reinhardt, where on 11 March 1973 he made his last Divizia A appearance in a 5–1 loss against Steagul Roșu Brașov, having a total of 143 matches played in the competition, retiring after playing three more seasons at Rapid Arad in Divizia B.^[1]^[2] After he retired, Gornea struggled with alcoholism and had both of his legs amputated, dying in 2005 in his native town, Sinaia.^[1]^[2]^[5]

International career

Gheorghe Gornea played four games in which he conceded two goals at international level for Romania, all under the guidance of coach Angelo Niculescu, making his debut on 27 October 1968 when he came as a substitute at half-time and replaced Narcis Coman in a 3–0 away loss against Portugal at the 1970 World Cup qualifiers in which he conceded one goal from Jacinto Santos.^[2]^[6]^[7] His following game was a 0–0 against England, afterwards appearing in a 2–0 victory against Switzerland at the 1970 World Cup qualifiers and his last game was another friendly against England, played on the Wembley Stadium which ended 1–1 in which he had a appreciated performance, being nicknamed "The hero from Wembley".^[2]^[6] Gornea was also selected by Angelo Niculescu to be part of Romania's squad at the 1970 World Cup final tournament, but he did not play in any game there.^[2]^[5]