A review of Serbia vs. Romania football match

Romanias national football team has a win-all record so far in UEFA Nations Leagues inaugural edition

Florin Orban, 11.09.2018, 12:50

Romania succeeded a 2-all draw in Belgrade this past Monday in their fixture against Serbia, Romania’s second match in the aforementioned competition. We recall that this past Friday in the southern Romanian town of Ploiesti Romania ended the match against Montenegro in a blank draw.

In Belgrade, the Romanian eleven went two goals down from their opponents, yet each time the Romanians leveled the score. Serbia’s Aleksandr Mitrovic drew first blood on 41 minutes as an all-out stumble fatefully galvanized the Romanians’ defense lineup. At the end of the first half the scoreboard displayed a 1-nil win for the Serbian side.

Early into the second half, actually on 48 minutes, Serbia’s Aleksandar Kolarov hacked Romanian midfielder Alexandru Chipciu in the box, so the referee granted the Romanians a kick from the spot, which was converted by Nicolae Stanciu. In the 63rd minute, Mitrovic put his team into the lead for the second time around as the result of a remarkable individual feat culminating with a shot that penetrated a literally beaten Romanian defense lineup. However, on 68 minutes, the ball carefully shot by Stanciu from the corner fed striker George Tucudean who volleyed it into the Serbian net, thus leveling the score, 2-all.

The Romanians could even have left Belgrade as winners. A couple of minutes from time Alexandru Mitrita found himself all alone in front of keeper Marko Dimitrovic who deflected Mitrita’s shot.

Romania’s next fixtures in UEFA Nations League are scheduled in October as on October 11th Romania takes on Lithuania away from home, while on October 14th, Romania face Serbia on home turf.

Montenegro outclassed Lithuania 2-all in Podgorica on Monday night. The match counted towards the 4th Group of the Nations League’s C series, which also includes Romania. Scoring for Montenegro were Stefan Savic who turned a penalty kick into a goal on 34 minutes, and Marko Jankovic, who scored the second goal on 35 minutes.

Ljubiša Tumbaković’s trainees are at the top of the table in Group 4, with 4 points, on a par with Serbia, yet with a better goal average. In the same group, Romania are 3rd-placed with 2 points, while 4th-placed are Lithuania, with zero points on their record sheet.