© Reuters 2002

BUCHAREST, March 13 (Reuters) - Valencia forward Adrian Ilie has been dropped from the Romanian squad by coach Anghel Iordanescu for a friendly against Ukraine later this month.

Romania and Ukraine, who missed out on this summer's World Cup finals after losing in the playoffs, meet in the Black Sea port city of Constanta on March 27.

"Ilie has not played for his club for the past two months," Iordanescu told Reuters on Wednesday. "He seems to be completely out of shape."

Iordanescu, whose side lost to France last month on his first game back in a second spell as coach, has also called up two emerging young midfielders, Florin Cernat of Dynamo Kiev and Alin Stoica of Anderlecht.

Eight players from the Romanian league will be named next week to join the 12 foreign-based squad members announced on Wednesday.