In the summer of 1993, he was asked to replace Cornel Dinu as Romania's coach and managed to lead the team to qualification for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, where Romania reached the quarter-finals, the best-ever performance of Romanian football at the national team level. He continued as Romania's coach after the World Cup and led the team to a new qualification, for UEFA Euro 1996 and the 1998 World Cup, where Romania reached the knockout stage as winners of Group G.