6/17/24
Group E
Romania 3 vs. Ukraine 0

Dennis the Man as Romania run riot

Jon Radcliffe, 2 h ago
Romania strolled to their first UEFA European Championship victory in eight outings as they crushed Ukraine 3-0 in their Group E opener.

The excitement is starting to ramp up in Germany as the continent’s best teams take to the field, and Tuesday’s opener saw two more outfits make their Euro 2024 bow. Romania came into this clash on the back of tepid goalless draws against Bulgaria and Liechtenstein, but they were by far the more ambitious of the two teams in the first half. Florinel Coman had the game’s first attempt inside the opening 10 minutes, forcing Andriy Lunin into a comfortable save from distance.

The Ukrainian goalkeeper has been in terrific form for Real Madrid in the absence of Thibaut Courtois in recent months, but he must shoulder plenty of the blame for the game’s breakthrough, which came shortly before the half-hour mark. His poor pass fell right to the feet of Dennis Man, whose lay-off was delightfully curled into the top corner from 25 yards by Romanian captain and talisman Nicolae Stanciu. While Ukraine offered very little offensively, Tricolorii almost doubled their lead before the break, with Stanciu hitting the crossbar directly from a corner after Taras Stepenenko had deflected Man’s low strike narrowly wide of the post.

Romania were deserving of their HT lead, and they were in no mood to let Ukraine back into the encounter. In fact, they only increased their intensity after the interval and were soon three to the good. First, Edward Iordănescu’s men pounced on some more slack passing from their opponents as Răzvan Marin fired a first-time attempt into the bottom corner – again, though Lunin was at fault as the shot snuck under his outstretched gloves. Less than five minutes later, Romania’s advantage was extended further when Denis Drăguș tapped home Man’s cross.

From then on, Ukraine bossed possession but did little with it. Incredibly, their first shot on target did not arrive until the 77th minute, when Georgiy Sudakov’s rifled strike from outside the area required a salmon-like leap from Florin Niță, and although Roman Yaremchuk did hit the bar in injury time, Serhiy Rebrov’s men were largely toothless throughout. Ultimately, it was a convincing display from Romania, who can now look forward to their clash with group big-hitters Belgium. Ukraine, meanwhile, can scarcely afford another slip-up against Slovakia, and given the margin of defeat here, could do with a big victory to give themselves realistic hope of progression.

Flashscore Man of the Match: Dennis Man (Romania)

Romania v Ukraine

6/17/24
Group E
Belgium 0 vs. Slovakia 1

Ivan the Great downs wasteful Belgium

Matt Jones, 6 min ago
Ivan Schranz’s early strike helped a resilient Slovakia pull off the biggest upset of UEFA Euro 2024 to date, defeating Belgium 1-0 in Frankfurt.

There were chances aplenty in the opening minutes, with Romelu Lukaku wasting one for Domenico Tedesco’s side as he was denied by Martin Dúbravka. Moments later, the deadlock was broken at the other end when the Falcons pounced on an error from Jérémy Doku, who passed dangerously across his own box, and although Juraj Kucka’s effort was straight at the goalkeeper, Schranz was on hand to tuck home the rebound.

Going behind did not seem to bother the Red Devils, who continued in their attempts to dictate the tempo and could have levelled when Dúbravka gifted possession to Leandro Trossard, only for the forward’s 25-yard shot to sail over the empty goal. Amadou Onana then had a header saved and Lukaku should have equalised when stabbing wide after being sent through one-on-one, with those efforts coming either side of Lukáš Haraslín forcing a fantastic stop out of Koen Casteels at the other end with a perfectly struck volley that was palmed around the post.

The second half was all one-way traffic, but for all their dominance, Belgium – who were previously unbeaten in 14 games under Tedesco – simply found no way past Dúbravka, who made a pair of smart saves to deny Lukaku and Trossard either side of the former having a close-range effort ruled out for a narrow offside after meeting Onana’s towering knock-down. The striker then clattered a back-post volley into the side netting before a stunning goal-line clearance from Dávid Hancko prevented Johan Bakayoko from making it 1-1.

Slovakia began to wrestle back some control in the closing exchanges, with a brilliant defensive display to thank for snuffing out a multitude of attacks. They were given a shock when Lukaku appeared to have equalised by converting Loïs Openda’s cross, but the substitute had handled the ball in the build-up and the strike was ruled out after a VAR check.

That meant the Falcons eventually clung on to beat Belgium for the first time in their history, claiming a sixth win in their last eight outings to move into second place in Group E behind Romania, who comfortably defeated Ukraine earlier in the day. The Red Devils, on the other hand, lose their opening group game at a European Championship for only the second time.

Flashscore Man of the Match: Dávid Hancko (Slovakia)

6/17/24
Group D
Austria 0 vs. France 1

Bleus battle past Austria to open account


Danny Clark, 12 min ago
France kicked off their UEFA Euro 2024 campaign with a narrow 1-0 victory over Austria in Düsseldorf, as Didier Deschamps’ side continued their impressive unbeaten record in European Championship openers (W7, D3).

Having dropped just two points across a dominant qualification campaign (W7, D1), France travelled to Germany as one of the favourites for the title. An opening fixture against Ralf Rangnick’s revitalised team looked to be a tricky one on paper, but it was Les Bleus who came flying out the blocks, with Kylian Mbappé seeing a low effort tipped around the post by Patrick Pentz.

Grateful to still be on level terms, Austria gained a foothold in the contest as the first half progressed, and Rangnick’s men spurned a golden opportunity to take the lead when Christoph Baumgartner’s close-range effort was brilliantly thwarted by Mike Maignan. That miss proved to be costly, with France taking the lead just three minutes later as Mbappé’s delivery into the box was inadvertently glanced into his own net by Maximilian Wöber.

Deschamps’ side carried the momentum that goal created into the early stages of the second half and should have doubled their lead within 10 minutes of the restart when Mbappé fluffed his lines from a glorious one-on-one chance. Undeterred, Les Bleus continued to probe for an all-important second goal, but Pentz stood firm in the Austria goal to deny a sharp effort from Marcus Thuram.

With the match still tantalisingly poised heading into the final quarter-hour, Das Team grew in confidence as they chased an unlikely equaliser. However, Alexander Prass headed their best opportunity wide of the target as France held firm to secure a hard-fought three points and extend their dominant H2H record to eight wins in the last 11 meetings. As for Austria, they’ll take plenty of positives into their next group game against Poland, despite losing for the first time since October.

Flashscore Man of the Match: Théo Hernández (France)

Austria v France