Slovakia 1-1 Romania: Marin snatches top spot for Wolves in tight Group E

By Sports Desk June 26, 2024

Romania progressed to the Euro 2024 knockout stages as unlikely Group E winners as Slovakia also made it through with Wednesday's 1-1 draw in Frankfurt.

Razvan Marin's first-half penalty cancelled out Ondrej Duda's early header before the two sides shared the spoils, as was the case in Belgium's goalless draw in the other group game with Ukraine.

Serhiy Rebrov's side were the unfortunate losers as all four teams remarkably finished on four points, with Domenico Tedesco's side sneaking through in second and Slovakia in third.

Romania topped the group on goals scored and will face the best third-place side from Group A, B, C or D in Munich on Tuesday, while Slovakia will meet either England or Spain in the next round.

Despite knowing a draw would be enough, Slovakia came flying out the blocks and wasted a flurry of chances before finally getting the breakthrough.

A backtracking Duda rose brilliantly to thump a header back across goal into the bottom-right corner after Juraj Kucka's angled cross from the right-hand side.

Ianis Hagi was brought down on the perimeter of the box shortly after, with the VAR overturning the onfield decision for a free-kick, and Marin emphatically buried the spot-kick to leave Martin Dubravka helpless.

Marin almost doubled his tally just after the hour mark, with his curler sailing just over the crossbar, while Lukas Haraslin whipped his attempt to get a winner narrowly wide as neither side could find a decisive goal.

Data Debrief: Mind the gap

Marin's goal was his second at the Euros – he has now scored twice in his last three games for Romania across all competitions, as many as he managed in his previous 54 appearances combined.

Meanwhile, Kucka assisted Slovakia's opening goal in this match, his second at a major tournament, with his other coming 14 years and two days ago (against Italy at  the2010 World Cup). It is the biggest gap between assists at a major tournament for a European player.

Duda also became the first Slovakian player to score at two major tournaments after netting as well at Euro 2016.

Related items

  • Charlie Smith strengthen second round ambition with 4-0 win over Tarrant; STATHS hammer KT 18-1 Charlie Smith strengthen second round ambition with 4-0 win over Tarrant; STATHS hammer KT 18-1

    Former champions Charlie Smith High strengthened their chances of progressing to the second round of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Digicel Manning Cup as they blanked Tarrant High 4-0 in their Zone B contest at the former’s Ninth Street base on Tuesday.

    The win by Charlie Smith consolidated their hold on second position on 18 points and a healthy goal difference ahead of third-placed Jonathan Grant (15 points), who will be in action against fourth-placed Waterford (10 points) on Wednesday.

    Reigning champions Mona High heads the Zone on 22 points, with Tarrant in fifth on six points, while Gaynstead High remain pointless.

    Elsewhere, Zone D leaders St Andrew Technical (STATHS) hammered Kingston Technical 18-1 as they continue to hold Calabar at bay in the race for the top spot. Calabar defeated Vauxhall 4-1 at their Red Hills Road base.

    Both teams moved to 22 points each, with STATHS holding a four-goal advantage over Calabar, while Haile Selassie (12 points), who lost 0-2 to Camperdown (11 points), remain third. Kingston Technical is still yet to gain a point.

    Tuesday’s results

    STATHS 18, Kingston Technical 1

    Calabar 4, Vauxhall 1

    Charlie Smith 4, Tarrant 0

    Ascot High 4, Pembroke Hall 2

    Haile Selassie 0, Camperdown 4

  • Dinthill, Port Antonio High open DaCosta Cup second round with 0-0 draw Dinthill, Port Antonio High open DaCosta Cup second round with 0-0 draw

    Dinthill Technical and Port Antonio High opened the second round of the 2024 ISSA/Wata DaCosta Cup with a goalless draw at Carder Park on Tuesday.

    For Dinthill, who finished second in Zone J of the first round on goal difference behind McGrath High, this was their second straight disappointing performance after a 1-2 loss to Charlemont High on Friday.

    For Port Antonio, who comfortably won Zone M to advance to the second round, this is their second consecutive draw after eight consecutive wins to start the season.

    Central High and Yallahs will face off tomorrow at Foga Road in the other Group 6 game.

    Other games set for Wednesday include:

    (Group 8) Christiana High vs Garvey Maceo High @Brooks Park

    (Group 5) Happy Grove High vs Holmwood Tech @Carder Park

    (Group 2) Ocho Rios High vs Black River High @Drax Hall

    (Group 8) McGrath High vs St. Mary High @Ewarton Sports Complex

    (Group 7) Glenmuir High vs Clarendon College @Glenmuir High

    (Group 4) Maldon High vs Brown’s Town High @Jarrett Park

    (Group 1) Cornwall College vs Kemps Hill High @Jarrett Park

    (Group 3) Manning’s School vs Manchester High @Llandilo Community Centre

    (Group 5) Belair High vs Denbigh High @Manchester High

    (Group 4) Munro College vs Alphansus Davis High @Munro College

    (Group 3) STETHS vs William Knibb Memorial @STETHS

    (Group 1) Spot Valley High vs Rusea’s High @Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium

    (Group 7) Paul Bogle High vs Titchfield High @York Oval

     

  • Portugal lacked 'a little bit of magic' in Scotland stalemate, says Martinez Portugal lacked 'a little bit of magic' in Scotland stalemate, says Martinez

    Portugal manager Roberto Martinez was in a defensive mood following his team's goalless draw away to Scotland in the Nations League on Tuesday night. 

    After scoring in each of the Spaniard's first 12 competitive matches in charge of Portugal, the Selecao have since drawn a blank in four of their last seven matches. 

    Portugal did have their chances, however, registering 14 shots during the contest, though only three were on target, ending the night with an expected goals (xG) total of 1.52.

    Martinez faced criticism for lacking a plan B after his side struggled to break the Scots down.

    "Our talent of our players, is plan A, B, C, D, E," he told De Sporto after the match.

    "We have players inside, outside, we are talking about a team that did not take risks, that defended very well.

    "We are talking about a team [Portugal] that reached 53 times in the last third. We have to give credit to Scotland and to us the fact that we managed to keep a clean sheet."

    It was a frustrating night for Martinez and fans alike.

    Despite Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Jota among other big hitters starting, they were unable to find a way past 41-year-old goalkeeper Craig Gordon, who made some impressive saves when they did get in on goal.

    When asked what was missing from the performance, he alluded to a lack of individual quality.

    "A decision, a little bit of magic in the area. We had a lot of desire, we worked very well without the ball," Martinez said.

    "It was a dangerous game because we could have possession of the ball, but Scotland have little need to score a goal. We showed freshness, but we lacked freshness in the last third.

    "You also have to give credit to Scotland, they had a lot of players in front of goal, their goalkeeper also made a spectacular save."

    Following the performance and result at Hampden Park, there have been further questions about Martinez's selection policy for Portugal.

    The most high-profile query of all remains whether 39-year-old Ronaldo should continue, having had a difficult night on his 200th start for his country.

    "The national team always has an open door, but now we are talking about a very, very large group of players," said Martinez.

    "It is a question of continuing to connect and synchronise what we can do. Now the game in Porto is to celebrate qualification in front of our fans."

    Scotland manager Steve Clarke, meanwhile, was much happier with the evening's result, which ended a four-game losing run for Scotland.

    "It's not about turning a corner, it's just about working hard and not letting the country down. You could see that tonight," he said.

    "The point was important for us after the work the group put in to get off the mark."

    The result also marked Scotland's first clean sheet since beating Gibraltar 2-0 seven games ago in a pre-Euro 2024 warm-up friendly.

    The performance at the back was another thing that pleased Clarke.

    "Defensively sound, the shape of the team was good," he said. 

    "We denied a lot of space in behind. Good concentration in the box, determined defending at times, some really good blocks, which you need against sides like Portugal.

    "Everyone contributed to earn the point."

    Despite taking an unexpected point, Scotland are still bottom of their Nations League group, while the draw means they are winless in 10 matches - their longest ever run.

    But Clarke feels the players will take a lot from Tuesday's match that will help them going forward.

    "Everyone keeps talking about confidence, but they know they can play well," he said. 

    "We maybe didn't play as well as we could on the ball, which could be down to fatigue. But I don't think they lack confidence. Tonight's point will give us more confidence."

© 2024 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.