Thirty years ago, when they could claim briefly to be among the world’s best teams, Romania captured hearts with their eye for the spectacular. It glinted again to devastating effect in their return to major tournament football and, even if this side cannot compare technically to the class of 1994, a performance of genuine quality suggested the modern breed can create their own legends.
Ukraine did not know what had hit them. They ran into a brick wall for nearly half an hour before Nicolae Stanciu, with a demonstration of stupendous technique, transformed the picture. It was a goal Gheorghe Hagi, who had addressed their horde of yellow-clad fans via the giant screen before kick-off, would have gladly called his own.
By the latter stages Romania were three goals up and Radu Dragusin, who had an exceptional game, was geeing up the crowd after repelling Ukrainian attempts at a consolation. The Tottenham defender exemplified their display: physical, aggressive but controlled. Romania qualified unbeaten for their first finals in eight years and perhaps, amid names that have become more fashionable, their prospects have been overlooked.
“We have had golden generations but this nation does not represent any metal, it is the generation of the soul,” their manager, Edward Iordanescu, said. “Such a big heart, such a big soul, no one has ever had that. This generation is limitless.”
Iordanescu, whose father, Anghel, oversaw that heady summer three decades back, is famed for being a forceful orator and has evidently tapped into something. “A great day for Romania,” he said. “A historic victory for the Romanian people. If you had any doubts, you can believe me now that this is a great team.”
Romania spent 29 minutes holding their shape in front of slick but, it turned out, relatively insubstantial opponents. They were starting to show flickers of ambition when Mykola Matviyenko, the Ukraine centre-back, directed a slightly undercooked back-pass to Andriy Lunin. The Real Madrid keeper cleared hurriedly to his left and could only reach Dennis Man, who quickly fed Stanciu. Even then nobody could have expected the captain, long a mercurial talent, to wrap his foot around a bobbling ball and whip a glorious first-time outswinger into the top corner from 22 yards.
The Saudi-based Stanciu described it as “the goal of my career”, proceeding to aim a lengthy monologue at local journalists who had “insulted” the side after a goalless friendly draw with Liechtenstein. Squabbles have been a constant theme of Romanian football’s long decline but Stanciu and his teammates showed they were on the same page by emerging for the second half and turning the screw.
First the right-back Andrei Ratiu, resplendent with blue hair and comfortably the better of Mykhaylo Mudryk throughout, surged upfield and found Man to his left. Mykola Shaparenko seemed to have snuffed out the danger but Razvan Marin, running on to the ball well beyond the “D”, returned it with considerable interest. His shot was struck cleanly but flew through the hands of Lunin, who might claim tenuously to have been unsighted.
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Romania had struck from range again but their third goal, three minutes before the hour, came from a matter of feet. Lunin achieved a scintilla of redemption by saving from Ratiu but Man received the corner short from Stanciu and Ukraine were all at sea. Man swerved too easily past Shaparenko, reaching the corner of the six-yard box and centring for the striker Denis Dragus to convert.
Before kick-off Ukraine had felt like the story and, in the bigger picture, they still are. It is remarkable that they are here at all and, earlier in the day, the context in which they are performing was laid bare.
Andriy Shevchenko, now a statesmanlike presence as their football association president, rousingly addressed a crowd of supporters in Wittelsbacherplatz and opened an exhibit displaying part of a stadium from Kharkiv that was destroyed by Russian shelling. Win, lose or draw, these matches mean the world in raising awareness of their plight.
Nonetheless Shevchenko’s old accomplice, Serhiy Rebrov, was frustrated he could not get a tune from his fancied squad. He rolled the dice late on, Roman Yaremchuk clipping the bar, but Ukraine looked lightweight after going behind and must improve quickly. “Nobody expected this result,” Rebrov said. “We are feeling that we did not do well enough.”
It was left for Iordanescu to sign off with more bombast. “This means more to me than you can imagine,” he said. “Go Romania.”