Skip to main content

Romania and Slovakia both reach last 16 after Razvan Marin seals stormy draw

So much for the “Disgrace of Gijón” part two. Romania and Slovakia may have got the result they knew beforehand would guarantee both countries escaped from Group E, but there was no scintilla of a stitch-up about it. Unlike the notorious match between West Germany and Austria in 1982, this game was not played at walking pace but full throttle, with chances galore, even in the middle of an apocalyptic thunderstorm.

Ondrej Duda’s powerful header was cancelled out by Razvan Marin’s penalty and that meant Romania qualified top of the group, while Slovakia went through too as one of the best third-placed sides. With a crowd three-quarters Romanian it felt like a home fixture at times, and the atmosphere was remarkable with noise and pyrotechnics throughout, but these were two evenly matched teams and a draw was a fair result. Honest.

Continue reading...

from The Guardian https://ift.tt/MCBaSyk

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

England booed off after failing against Iceland once more in Euros warm-up

It was a long way from being the triumphant Euro 2024 send-off for Gareth Southgate and his England players at a sold-out and increasingly fretful Wembley. Never mind the result because it was not the main thing, however much it stirred memories of you-know-when against Iceland. It was the performance that raised the difficult questions, the worst one for quite some time and at exactly the wrong time. The home fans, thousands of whom made for the exits before the end, were forced to watch the second half – from about minute 55 onwards – through the gaps between their fingers. And it had not been great before that. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/4ndfQL0

Manchester City in title driving seat after cruising to win at Leeds

The title stare-off becomes steelier with each week. Elland Road was at its raucous best and a highly motivated Leeds played well enough to ensure Manchester City rarely neared full stride. Nevertheless the leaders mastered the situation, showing they can win via set pieces when means of higher aesthetic merit elude them. Rodri and Nathan Aké proved the point with goals in each half, garnished later by Gabriel Jesus’ sixth in three matches and a Fernandinho daisycutter, and Pep Guardiola’s delight at the outcome was obvious. This had been a possible banana skin, with the potential leveller of such a highly charged atmosphere; instead City cruise on and Leeds, who are in genuine danger of going down, must seek more viable routes to safety. This encounter had an edge from the outset. It needed to, because the heat had been turned up on both teams. City would have expected Liverpool to achieve what was necessary at Newcastle; Leeds might not have banked on Burnley’s turnaround at Watford...

Bins ‘overflowing’ in parts of England as Covid hits collections

Staff sickness in areas including London, Gloucestershire and Somerset leads to waste services being scaled back Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Bins across parts of England are reportedly “overflowing” with rubbish from the festive period due to Covid-related staff shortages. London, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Buckinghamshire are among the areas where councillors have warned that bin collections are being scaled back because of staff sickness. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3qIHK0C