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Spain’s Under-21 Team Endures a Tough Match to Edge Past Romania in the European Championship

Spain’s Under-21 Team Endures a Tough Match to Edge Past Romania in the European Championship

SPORTSSPORTS4 weeks ago24 Views

Unexpectedly, Spain found itself in a predicament that jeopardized its chances in the Under-21 European Championship, where it is considered a favorite. It resolved the situation in five minutes, almost at the last moment (2-1), after a disappointing task of demolition against a determined Romania, which opened the scoring early, then folded and closed off avenues for an equalizer to a team that had spent too long stuck in the thick of it. There were opportunities to score well before the end. Mateo Joseph sent a penalty into the void, Diego López hit a shot that struck the body of a defender on the goal line, and coach Santi Denia tried one variant after another without finding solutions.

Alejandro Iturbe, Cristhian Mosquera, César Tárrega, Hugo Bueno, Marc Pubill (Raúl Moro, min. 45), Beñat Turrientes (Jesús Rodriguez, min. 64), Javi Guerra, Pablo Torre (Roberto Fernández, min. 45), Diego López (Mikel Jauregizar, min. 64), Juanlu Sánchez, and Mateo Joseph (Alberto Moleiro, min. 73)

Razvan Sava, Andrei Borza, Ümit Akdag (Cristian Ignat, min. 75), Tony Strata, Matei Ilie, Ovidiu Perianu, Catalin Vulturar (Marius Corbu, min. 65), Constantin Grameni, Rares Ilie, Octavian Popescu (Ianis Stoica, min. 68), and Louis Munteanu (Vladislav Blanuta, min. 76)

Goals
0-1 min. 3: Louis Munteanu. 1-1 min. 84: Mikel Jauregizar. 2-1 min. 87: Roberto Fernández

Referee Sander van der Eijk

Yellow cards
Ovidiu Perianu (min. 41), Mateo Joseph (min. 88)

Red cards
Vladislav Blanuta (min. 83)

Spain was stung by a stunning goal from Munteanu, the top scorer of the last Romanian league. It happened three minutes into the match. The rest was a monologue enhanced by occasional Romanian forays that sparked panic in a troubled team. The Romanians shut down connections with Pablo Torre, replaced at halftime, and Javi Guerra. The lights dimmed, and the ball moved as if it were a handball game, side to side, with no depth beyond center-entering the area.

However, Spain was always the better team. It also called upon its playmakers and achieved victory after Blanuta, who had replaced Munteanu, punished Mosquera’s ankle with a late tackle that led to his sending off. Jauregizar immediately equalized, shooting unopposed from outside the area, and almost seamlessly, victory came with a striker’s goal signed by Roberto Fernández. Moreover, the Spanish team has secured its place in the quarter-finals without needing to wait for the final group stage match, as Italy won 0-1 against Slovakia in its second match.

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