Slovakia vs Romania Preview & Prediction | UEFA EURO 2024 | Group Stage

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Group E is poised perfectly for the neutral with all four teams level on three points as we head into the final round of fixtures. These two started with shock victories before falling to frustrating defeats in their second outings.

KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Wednesday 24^th June, 2024 - UK – 5:00pm / US ET – 12:00pm / US PT – 9:00am

HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – BBC / US – FOX

HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – BBC iPlayer / US – VIX

SLOVAKIA PREVIEW: BOUNCING BACK

Slovakia started the tournament with a shock defeat of Belgium in their opening game. Ivan Schranz’ sixth minute strike was enough to separate the sides but they did ride their luck with Belgium dominating the rest of the game and their striker, Romelu Lukaku, having two goals overturned by VAR decisions.

After that they started well against Ukraine and had a 1-0 lead at half-time as they aimed to secure top spot in Group E but a lack of proactivity in the second-half and an improved Ukrainian performance saw the game turn on its head and does now send Slovakia into what is effectively a shootout with Romania.

ROMANIA PREVIEW: ABOVE EXPECTATION

Like Slovakia, Romania lit up the opening round of fixtures with their own shock win. The so-called ‘golden generation’ of Ukraine were no match for the resolute defence of Romania and their attacking thrust with a couple of screamers and a well worked move enough to see them begin with a 3-0 victory in Munich.

They then fell behind to a resurgent Belgian side after just two minutes in Cologne when Youri Tielemans struck from outside of the box. Romania huffed and puffed and did actually create some openings in the game but the Belgians eventually ran out 2-0 winners in that game and that leaves Romania with some work to do.

SLOVAKIA TEAM NEWS: SLOVAKS TO ATTACK

Slovakia have been tempted to bring in Hellas Verona attacker Tomas Suslov in both of their games but with Ivan Schranz currently the joint top scorer at the time of writing on Monday and both Lukas Haraslin and his club teammate Ondrej Duda performing well, that seems an unlikely change.

PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Dubravka; Pekarik, Vavro, Skriniar, Hancko; Lobotka, Kucka; Schranz, Duda, Haraslin; Bozenik

UNAVAILABLE:

QUESTIONABLE:

ROMANIA TEAM NEWS: FULLY FIT AND AVAILABLE ROMANIANS

Romania have named the same team in both of their games so far, despite some calls for Alexandru Cicaldau to come in in place of either Marius Marin or Razvan Marin. However, performance levels remained high against Belgium so there would seem no need to change it.

PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Nita; Ratiu, Dragusin, Burca, Bancu; M. Marin, R. Marin; Man, Stanciu, Mihaila; Dragus

UNAVAILABLE:

QUESTIONABLE:

KEY STATS

• Four of the last six matches between Slovakia and Romania have finished level.
• Romania are unbeaten in their last nine matches against Slovakia (W4 D5) *these include Slovakia only and not Czechoslovakia.
• Slovakia are aiming to qualify for their group for the second time in the three most recent editions, having reached the knockout rounds at EURO 2016 and exited in the group stage at EURO 2020.
• Slovakia have never won more than one match in a EURO final tournament group.
• Slovakia have scored the first goal in their previous two matches at EURO 2024.
• Slovakia have been winning at half-time in their previous two matches at EURO 2024.
• Ivan Schranz is the first player to score in the first two matches in a EURO group stage for Slovakia.
• Despite the defeat against Ukraine, Slovakia have lost only three of their last 13 competitive matches (W8 D2).
• Peter Pekarík and Juraj Kucka are set to become the first players to reach the landmark of ten EURO appearances for Slovakia.
• Romania are aiming to reach the EURO knockout rounds for the first time since EURO 2000. That is the only tournament in five previous EURO appearances that they have qualified from their group.
• Romania have never won more than one match in a EURO group stage campaign.
• Romania have won only two of their 18 EURO matches (D5 L11).
• Despite the defeat against Belgium, Romania have lost only two of their last 17 international matches (W8 D7).
• Only one of Romania’s 18 EURO matches has finished without a goal being scored.
• Romania have been winning at half-time in only two of their previous 18 EURO matches.

SLOVAKIA VS ROMANIA PREDICTION

Both of these sides have shown a lot more attacking enterprise than was expected ahead of the tournament – especially considering Romania came into the campaign on the back of back-to-back goalless draws against Bulgaria and Liechtenstein in their final two friendlies. Slovakia will be expected to get on the front foot and play some passing, progressive football but Romania handled a similar style by Ukraine quite well. With both sides needing at least a point but at least a point potentially not being enough, both teams scoring seems a good bet.

SLOVAKIA VS ROMANIA TIP: BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE