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In the first game of Group C, England faced Romania with the Three Lions having a chance at redemption against Romania and the possibility of still qualifying for the semi-finals. For Romania, a win will most likely see them through to the semi-finals of the tournament.
England kicked the game off with the Three Lions needing a win in this game.
Romania had the first chance of the first-half. In the third minute, Dean Henderson was forced to make a vital save with his feet as Ianis Hagi took a mid-range shot that moved in the air and forced the England goalkeeper to make a great save to stop a certain goal.
In the fifth minute, England won a free-kick that was quickly cleared away from the Ionut Radu and Romania went on the counter-attack with Andrei Ivan’s shot saved by Henderson.
A minute later, England cleared a corner but with the ball put into the box again, Ivan was through to score a certain goal for Romania but his shot was wide of the goal.
England had a chance to open the scoring, James Maddison stood over a 30 yard free-kick with his shot narrowly flying over the bar.
In the 14th minute, Romania went on a phenomenal counter-attack with George Puscas sprinting at full speed. He was brought down with the ball landing at Hagi’s feet who passed it to Dennis Man whose shot was saved by Henderson.
The first 15 minutes were dominated by Romania with their dangerous counter-attacks and possession. This allowed them to create a few good chances to score where as England were happy to sit back and soak up the Romania pressure.
England had most of the possession until the 25th minute with the statistics being 62%-38% in England’s favour and the Three Lions not creating a shot on target up until that point.
After James Maddison gave the ball away Hagi got on the ball with his pass to Puscas and his pass scored by Man but his celebrations were cut short as the goal was disallowed due to an offside against Puscas given.
In the 34th minute, England had a rare attack after some great build-up play. Maddison had a chance to shoot but saw his shot going over the bar.
A few minutes later, England had another chance through a Mason Mount strike but his shot went well wide of the Romania goal.
In added time, England recorded their first shot on target with Mason Mount’s effort saved by Radu.
The first-half concluded with the score at 0-0. Romania had more of the dangerous chances with Ivan’s opportunity the most dangerous which could have seen the Romanian’s go 1-0 up.
In the 48th minute, after a Maddison corner allowed Kieran Dowell to connect with a header which was cleared off the line by Florin Bogdan Stefan.
A minute later, Hagi’s shot forced another Henderson save with the resulting corner coming to nothing.
Substitute Phil Foden nearly made an instant impact, a pass from Jay Dasilva found it’s way to the midfielder who’s near post shot from an acute angle was saved.
The first 15 minutes played in the second-half saw a shift in attacks with England growing more into the game creating more dangerous chances and Romania staying on the back foot.
A brilliant chance for England, when full-back Dasilva crossed the ball into the box with Dominic Calvert-Lewin outjumping the Romania defenders but his header went well over the bar.
Moments later England created another scoring opportunity for England, when Mason Mount turned and passed into Foden just outside the 18-yard box. His left-footed effort went wide of the goal though.
Romania won a penalty in the 75th minute, after a rash tackle from Kenny on Florinel Coman, who clipped the Romanian. Puscas stood over the penalty and scored slotting the ball into the bottom right corner giving Romania a 1-0 lead.
England equalised quickly through Demarai Gray. After the winger received a pass from captain Jake Clarke-Salter he took the ball inside and whipped the ball that went past Radu off the post and into the back of the net.
Calvert-Lewin had two chances to score as England wrestled back the initiative. The first header hit the post and the other went over the bar, both from Maddison’s crosses.
In the 85th minute, Romania regained their lead. Fikayo Tomori cleared the ball with the ball falling to Hagi and the midfielder skill-fully going past the defender and slotting the ball into the back of the net.
Not long after Tammy Abraham made it 2-2 and England equalised for the second time. The forward chested a cross and got in between the two Romania central defenders and slotted the ball into the bottom corner.
What a game it was turning out to be at the Stadio Dino Manuzzi. Coman picked up the ball and fired from distance with the low driven shot going through Henderson’s hands and going into the back of the net to make it 3-2 for Romania.
In the 90+1 minute, a cross from Foden saw Abraham head the ball with it hitting the bar and denying England of getting a third equaliser.
Coman scored his second and Romania’s fourth as a sweet half-volley saw the attacker beat the England goalkeeper to wrap the game and the win for Romania.
The referee blew for full-time. What a great game it was with six goals in the last 20 minutes seeing Romania beat England 4-2. The defeat leaves England at the bottom of Group C with no chance of getting to the semi-final.
Team Line-ups
England: Dean Henderson; Jonjoe Kenny, Jake Clarke-Salter (c), Fikayo Tomori, Jay Dasilva (Tammy Abraham 76′); Mason Mount, Kieran Dowell, James Maddison; Harvey Barnes Ryan Sessegnon 46′, Phil Foden 57′), Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Demarai Gray.
Romania: Ionut Radu (c); Cristian Manea, Ionut Nedelcearu, Alex Pascanu, Florin Bogdan Stefan; Dennis Man (Vlad Dragomir 74′), Tudor Cristian Baluta, Alexandru Cicaldau, Andrei Ivan (Florinel Coman 63′); Ianis Hagi (Dragos Nedelcu 87′); George Puscas.
