Euro 2008: France 0-0 Romania (Match Report and Video)

June 9th, 2008 at 10:43pm ibrahimo

This was the first game in this years ‘group of death, which includes France, Romania, Italy and Holland. Before this game, several French players agreed that to succeed in this group you would have to do well in your first game, and compared to the other two teams, Romania sounds relatively easy, but in actual fact they have only lost three games in their last twenty matches (over a two year period)

The game kicked off, and both teams immediately sprung into action, forming the positions for what turned out to be most the half: France playing football down the wings, and Romania getting virtually all their players behind the ball at the same time. In fact, the first half was pretty dull. France keeping long spells of possession, creating very few opportunities though.

The fact there were only two shots on target speaks for itself in the first half. France’s best opportunity came from a low cross from Ribery, but unfortunately the French number nine couldn’t quite convert at the near post, although Anelka did have a header from a corner that went just over the bar. Towards the end of the first half, the Romanian players were creating some good moves, but to no avail.

The second half brought some good football, but again, minimal chances. As the Romanians brought more and more players back behind the ball, France got increasingly frustrated and started to try and use sheer force to get through the Romanian wall like defense unsuccessfully.

It was in the last ten minutes that the game started to get a bit more exciting, France changing to accommodate three players up front, but there was no real urgency towards their play. When three minutes of added time was added on, relief blew through the French dugout, but they still needed to find a goal, and the French players seemed quite content with relying on wins from the Italy and Holland games, which is not the best tactic, to say the least.

It was in the second minute of stoppage time when French and Romanian hearts temporarily stopped beating after Romania were rewarded a free kick right near the corner flag. All the staff on both teams had their heads in their hands, what they were thinking is pretty predictable, but France just about escaped from the free kick, but did not have time to counter and more importantly score.

France will go away from this game extremely disappointed, probably hoping the Holland v Italy game is a draw, although Romania will be happy with the point and the first draw of the competition.

Final Score:
France 0 – 0 Romania

Watch some of the missed shots on target:

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