Romania finally ended their 24-year winless streak at the European Football Championship, when they comfortably won Ukraine 3-0 in the Group E opener on Monday, June 17th at the Munich Football Arena.
The tone was set early on, with Romania enjoying the lion’s share of possession and territory in the first half. Romanian midfielder Florinel Coman went close to opening the scoring inside the opening 10 minutes, forcing a comfortable save from Andriy Lunin in the Ukrainian goal.
However, Lunin’s poor distribution proved to be his undoing shortly before the half-hour mark. His wayward pass was pounced upon by Dennis Man, who passed ball to man of the match and Romania captain Nicolae Stanciu to score a magnificent goal, right into the top corner from 25 yards.
Nicolae Stanciu’s goal is one of the best we’ve seen at EURO 2024 so far.
Romania’s dominance continued after the break, and they soon extended their lead. More loose play at the back from Ukraine allowed Razvan Marin to fire home a low shot that squeezed under the outstretched Lunin in the 53rd minute.
The score was then completed when Denis Dragus tapped home Man’s cross to make it 3-0 in favour of the Romanians just four minutes later.
While Ukraine enjoyed greater possession in the latter stages, they struggled to create any clear-cut chances. Georgiy Sudakov finally tested Florin Nita in the 77th minute, but the Romanian goalkeeper was equal to his powerful strike.
Roman Yaremchuk did hit the bar in injury time, but it was too little, too late for Serhiy Rebrov’s side. The game ended 3-0 in favour of Romania, their first win at the Euros since 2000, and the win is their second-ever in a Euro game.
This was a truly dominant performance from Romania, who now have their sights firmly set on causing a major upset in their next Group E clash against heavyweights Belgium, who they face on Saturday, June 22nd.
For Ukraine, the inquest will begin as they look to bounce back in their crucial encounter with Slovakia on Friday, 21st June, knowing that another defeat could severely dent their hopes of progression.
