Slovakia, Romania battle with a point enough to advance both on TSN
Published
Slovakia and Romania each won their openers and dropped their second games at UEFA Euro 2024. Now the teams meet in their round-robin finales with a single point enough to send both into the knockout stage of the tournament.
With all four Group E teams tied with three points, there are many different combinations of how they can finish, but If the match at Frankfurt Arena ends in a draw, Romania will place no worse than second in the group, while Slovakia will advance as one of the best third place teams at the tournament.
After opening the tournament with a 3-0 victory over Ukraine, Romania fell 2-0 in their second group game against Belgium.
"We are going for the win! We want to win and finish the group in first place,” said Romania forward Denis Drăguș. “We are all at full fitness and ready for Slovakia. We have all played same number of matches, so we are recovered and ready to give everything we've got, if needed."
Drăguș had one of Romania’s goals in their tournament-opening victory, Nicolae Stanciu and Razvan Marin also found the net against Ukraine.
"Wednesday's match will be a crossroads and a moment of truth for all Romanians,” said head coach Edward Iordănescu. “I have felt an incredible support and enthusiasm from everybody, but now it's time to tighten things up. This generation of players will reward their supporters by qualifying."
Nicușor Bancu, Răzvan Marin and Marius Marin will all miss the Round of 16 game for Romania if they are booked on Wednesday and the team advances.
Slovakia sprung a 1-0 upset on Belgium in their first game, before dropping their second contest to Ukraine 2-1.
"They have intelligent players.,” Slovakia defender Denis Vavro said looking ahead to playing Romania. “Some have moved to Serie A and they're very good in terms of speed and technical ability. And just like us, they'll want to fight and to progress from the group. Slovakia have never won a group before, but now we could achieve this, so we'll try to get the win. We won't rush it and attack just to get a result. But at the same time, we'll do everything to win that group."
Ivan Schranz has both goals for Slovakia as they try to reach the Round of 16 for the first time since UEFA Euro 2016.
"We have our game, our style. We know it will be difficult, but we want to reach the knockout stage,” said Slovakia head coach Francesco Calzona. “Just the fact that we are fighting for qualification is a big thing for this small country. And I'm proud of that. We will do everything we can to get three points against Romania. I think it's all wide open."
The countries last met in a 2013 friendly where they played to a 1-1 draw at Arena Națională in Bucharest.