VALENCIA. The Romanian team took first place in the evenly matched Group E with this Wednesday’s draw (1-1) against a Slovakia that will also be in the round of 16 of the Euro Cup as third.
At the Commerzbank-Arena in Frankfurt there was a forecast of peace although the safest way to advance to the crossroads was victory. However, trusting that Belgium would not fail against Ukraine in the other match, 0-0 in the end, the tie was also worth it, with the four teams on four points and Romania in ‘first’.
The Slovak team advanced as third, playing a little more with fire in a more conservative second half, although they had two blows that could have given them the victory, in the midst of the deluge that broke out for ten minutes of the second half.
The famous ‘biscotto’ of the last day of the group stage was in all the previews of this match, but the brave start of both changed the script for the moment. A round trip, although the chances were long in coming, where a goal, also in the other game, could change everything.
From a set piece, around the 20th minute, Slovakia had the first good chance, but the ball sailed past the rival goal without Skriniar or Hancko finishing narrowly. In the next, a center measured in the heart of the area was finished off at will by Duda for the Slovakian 1-0. Romania’s response was with Ratiu and with Hagi who forced a penalty that had to be reviewed by the VAR.
At first the referee pointed it out of the area, but finally it was a maximum penalty that Razvan Marin converted (1-1). At the restart, the game continued with this back-and-forth, although more of a façade, because the Slovaks began to put away their clothes. The draw was good and the defeat was lethal, so it was worth it not to upset the rival and achieve the goal of being in the second round.
However, there was an exchange of blows around the hour mark, with Marin and Dragus coming close to scoring for Romania. The rain began to fall very hard and Slovakia also came close to second with Strelec and Haraslin. From there, the non-aggression pact became more palpable and the tie allowed both teams to overcome the group stage of a EURO for the second time in their history.
SLOVAKIA: Dubravka; Pekarik (Gyömber, min.90), Skriniar, Vavro, Hancko; Kucka, Lobotka, Duda (Bero, min.90); Schranz (Duris, min.78), Strelec (Bozenik, min.70) and Haraslin (Suslov, min.70).
ROMANIA: Nita; Ratiu, Dragusin, Burca, Bancu; M. Marin; Hagi (Dennis Man, min.66), R. Marin (Rus, min.86), Stanci, Coman (Sorescu, min.58); and Dragus (Puscas, min.66).
Goals: 1 – 0, min.24, Doubt. 1 – 1, min.37, Marin (penalty).
Referee: Daniel Siebert (ALE). Duda was cautioned (min.91) by Slovakia. And to (Burca, min.45+1), Bancu (min.45+4), Iordanescu (min.55) and Puscas (min.88) in Romania.
){kind=link}