Euro 2024 Group E
The football team of Romania defeated Israel on a neutral field in Felchut (Hungary) 2:1.
With this win, they secured a place at the European Championship in Germany. Still, they also won against Switzerland in the last round of qualifications and showed everyone that it’s not a coincidence that they are at EURO.
Romania finished in the leading position in group I of the qualifications. They will be a tough and “unknown” opponent at EURO as their squad is full of surprises. Unexpectedly, debutants from the domestic league, Razvan Sava, the goalkeeper of Cluj, his one-match teammate Daniel Birligea, and Constantin Grameni from Farul Constanța, entered the list. Interestingly, there is no Alexandru Mitrita from Craiova, Cristian Manea from Cluj, and famous stopper Vlad Chiriches from FCSB, who has experience from the Premier League and Serie A.
The popular “Red Devils,” as in the previous two European Championships, enter as one of the main favorites to reach the end, although in the previous EUROs, they were stopped in the quarter-finals.
The team led by the young Domenico Tedesco came to this European championship without defeat and, with only two draws, finished first in the group ahead of Austria. If we look at their FIFA ranking, they are in third place, right behind France and Argentina. It is clear that they are claiming the throne. They duly disappointed their fans at the last two EUROs, as they were eliminated in the quarter-finals.
Wales was surprisingly fatal in 2016, and four years later, they were stopped by Italy (2:1), who later won the continental competition.
Historically speaking, the Slovak football team won the European Championship under the flag of Czechoslovakia back in 1976, but its first official appearance as an independent country was at the European Championship in 2016, which was held in France. Then they reached the round of 16, which is their best result, but they were eliminated by Germany. In 2016, in the group together with England, Wales, and Russia, they finished in third place with two draws and a win, so they went to the knockout stage as one of the best third-placed teams.
They were stopped by Germany, who extinguished the dreams of Slovakian fans with a score of 3:0. Slovakia made its second appearance at the next EURO and was in group E, together with Spain, Sweden, and Poland, and it ended its participation already in the group.
Although they started well and defeated Poland (2:1), defeats against Sweden (1:0) and a debacle against Spain (5:0) followed.
The national team of Ukraine is the 4th participant in Group E at the EURO 2024. This after the Ukrainians won the playoff match against Iceland with 2-1, and that with a turnaround in the second half. The match, played on a neutral ground in Krakow, Poland, started well for the Icelandic team. With Gudmundsson’s goal in the 30th minute, Iceland took a 1-0 lead. However, in the second part, Ukraine completely dominated and, in the end, won 2:1.
Serhiy Rebrov will hope in Girona’s striking tandem, Artem Dovbyk—Viktor Tsyhankov.
As always, Mykhailo Mudryk will play an important role in the national team. The same goes for Oleksandr Zinchenko. Interestingly, among the 26 footballers on the list, an equal number play for Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv—six each—but there will be some changes before the start of the EURO.
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