June 27, 2024- It was a sight to see in Frankfurt as the Romanian fans marched towards Deutsche Bank Park to support their team as they outnumbered their Slovak counterparts. Although the match was a draw, both teams qualified for the Round of 16. Slovakia opened the scoring in the 24th minute when Ondrej Duda headed the ball into goal, unmarked by Romanian defenders. In the 34th minute, Slovak defender David Hancko fouled Ianis Hagi inside the box, and as a result, Romania's Razvan Marin converted a goal from the spot and leveled the score. It looked like both teams settled a mutual understanding on drawing the match, as the other match in the group between Belgium and Ukraine also resulted in a goalless draw. Ukraine were knocked out as they were placed fourth with the same points but a smaller goal difference. Whereas Romania topped the group, Belgium finished second, followed by Slovakia.
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| Romanian players celebrating with fans. |
The Belgium team showed yet another subpar performance in this tournament. A question arises about Romelu Lukaku's ability to perform in bigger matches. Domenico Tedesco also had to make his defense more compact and fast, as they will face France in their Round of 16 matchup. Overall, Group E was an unexpected one, with many seeing Belgium as the group toppers, followed by Ukraine, but Romania emerged as dark horses, whereas Slovakia gave a formidable performance by beating Belgium.
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| Belgium's Kevin De Bruyne (Blue) controlling the ball. |
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