Key events
Anitdontstop!
I also think what we’re seeing here is something international football gives us that club football can’t. The sense of an entire nation watching, pulling in the same direction, is different, and as the Romania players commune with their fans, someone gives Ianis Hagi a megaphone and he leads a chant that ends with leaping and bouncing. This is what it’s all about people: this kind of release, joy and love. Everyone involved will cherish this till the day they die.
I know I’m old, but the sight of players celebrating with fans and families absolute kills me every time. Imagine the joy after all that sacrifice, all the time wondering what might happen, fearing the worst. Brilliant.
FULL TIME: Romania 3-0 Ukraine
What a win and what a performance from Romania; the confidence they’ll take from this makes them a threat going forward too. Ukraine, on the other hand, have had an absolute mare, let down by their keeper but also unable to create. They’re not out yet, but they’re not far off it.
90+4 min What’s mad abot this is that I doubt anyone in Romania thought their team capable of a performance like this. It goes to show, I think, what you can achieve if you get a group all wired with the same aim. Meantime, Mudryk shoots from distance and Nita allows it to bounce, blocking it with body and arm; in the circumstances, it’s enough.
90+2 min Ball over the top and Yaremchuk pursues it, leaping while facing away from goal to hook a lob … that clips the top of the bar and falls behind! That’s a great effort, for all the difference it makes.
90 min We’ll have four added minutes. After which, I presume, my internet will immediately start working properly again.
89 min Ukraine win a corner down the right, it’s swerved in, and Puscas wins first contact at the near post … sending the ball narrowly wide of his own far post. The follow-up delivery, though, is poor, and Romania avert the danger. I cannot overstate the aggression and intensity of their performance today, especially since taking the lead; i wish every football team played like this, all the time.
88 min Ukraine’s problem now is the scale of this defeat. Assuming for a second that Belgium beat everyone, it might be possible to progress with three points, but it won’t be at all easy so to do having lost 3-0 – unless there’s a big win to redeem it.
86 min Change for Romania: Stanciu, scorer of the sensational goal that changed everything, departs, taking his time to enjoy a moment the like of which he may never again experience; it’s moving to watch. He’s replaced by Racovitan.
83 min “Further to Simon McMahon’s question about James McFadden,” says Stephen McCrossan, “I think he’s been refreshingly reluctant, unlike certain others, to drivel on for the sake of it. I know many people south of the border seem to really rate Ally McCoist but, in the name of God, he needs to learn to shut up occasionally. To my mind, the best co-commentator so far has been Andros Townsend.”
What you get with Coisty, I think, is likability and enthusiasm – thing which should be givens but aren’t. I agree that Townsend is really good though – and, of the other relative newbies, Daniel Sturridge and Ashley Cole are too.
83 min Change for Ukraine, Malinovskyi pausing his study of the Argonauts of the Western Pacific to replace Sudakov.
80 min “Based on handy Google definitions,” writes Thomas Jaggers, “I would go with rabid, meaning having or proceeding from an extreme or fanatical support of or belief in something – i.e. that they are going to WIN! Versus feral meaning being in a wild state, especially after escape from captivity or domestication. Although from the sound of the chest-bumping I can see that feral also applies!”
There we go: veral and fapid.
78 min Marin R tussles with Mudryk, the pair pulling at each other. But because it’s Mudryk who goes down and Marin who tugs last, it’s the former who get the free-kick and the latter who gets booked. As befits his and his team’s performance, he’s not at all happy with it, his mates having to pull him away from the ref, and this really is an effort of rare intensity from Romania.
77 min Romania are absolutely loving this.
75 min “Zidane won with pretty much every team he played for,” says Thomas Yelland, “made those teams vastly better. Unlike the some of the other names foisted around, he would get involved in the less glamourous aspects of the game. And unlike certain more recent contenders, it didn’t feel like the things he did were anything but in service of the game – the footwork, flicks and passed all he purpose, rather than showboating or beefing up his stats.”
I like showboating, but otherwise, Zidane was a Bordeaux till 24 and not that good at Madrid – they might have been better to just keep Makelele. Of course he was brilliant, just that I’d have him a long, long way below Maradona, Messi and both Ronaldos.
73 min Ukraine are searching and when Sudakov evades a pair of challenges, he spreads wide to Yarmolenko, who crosses low … then in slides Dragusin, sticking the ball behind prior to bro-chesting various teammates. I said earlier that Romania are rabid for this, and I’m not sure if feral is a level above or below that, but what the former is, they are.
72 min Another change for Ukraine: Konoplya is taken off, perhaps before he’s sent off, with Tymchyk replacing him.
71 min This time, Mudryk’s delivery isn’t bad, but it misses everything and Dragusin charges forward, eventually wearing the inevitable trip.
71 min Er, not much, his kick flicking the wall and flying behind for another corner to waste.
70 min Ukraine win another free-kick, this time 25 yards out and left of centre. Their set-pieces have been very poor today, but what can Sudakov conjure here?
68 min Konoplya pulls down Miahila and is booked. Free-kick Romania. out on the left; someone, Stanciu I think, whips it into the near side-netting.
66 min The thing about Ukraine is that they’ve struggled to create then, when they went behind, the Romania players found a way to harness the brilliance of the goal, set about them with bad intentions, and it’s been one-way traffic ever since.
65 min Ukraine win a free-kick 30 yards out, left of centre, and Mudryk curls towards the far post; it’s headed clear and, from the edge, Yarmolenko larrups a snap-shot over the bar.
62 min And now Ukraine send on Brazhko, Yarmolenko and Yaremchuk for Stepanenko, Tsygankov and Sharapenko.
62 min Ch ch ch changes: Romania send on Hagi and Mihaila for Man and Coman.
60 min I’m not sure what Ukraine do here. They desperately need to find some confidence before their next game against Slovakia, but they also need this not to get worse.
58 min What a moment! Romania haven’t played a tournament since 016, have won only one game in the entire history of the Euros … and they’re taking Ukraine to Sketchley! But wait … was Dragus offside? No he was not, and it’s a goal!
GOAL! Romania 3-0 Ukraine (Dragus 57)
The corner goes short from Stanciu to Man, who sways inside then outside, totally foxing Sharapenko who’ll need to pay to get back in, and when he drills square, Dragus taps home from close range! Mayham in the Romania end, and game over!
