Bogdan Stancu's achievement in becoming the first Romanian to score twice at a European Championship would mean nothing if his team failed to progress to the last 16, the striker said on Thursday. Romania can still secure their passage despite a 1-1 draw with Group A rivals Switzerland on Wednesday, most likely as one of the four best third-placed teams, but will probably need to beat Albania on Sunday.
Switzerland edged closer to a place in the knockout stages of Euro 2016 when they fought back to draw 1-1 with Romania in a lively Group A game at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday.
Romania face mounting injury problems ahead of their decisive Euro 2016 tie with Albania following a bruising 1-1 draw with Switzerland on Wednesday.
Dimitri Payet's spectacular late strike earned France a 2-1 win over Euro 2016 Group A rivals Romania on Friday, giving the host nation a flying start to their campaign.
A first-half header by striker Armando Sadiku gave Albania a 1-0 win over Romania at Euro 2016 on Sunday and kept alive their hopes of reaching the knockout stages in their first major tournament. The result of a pulsating clash left the Balkan nation third in Group A on three points behind France and Switzerland, meaning that they are in contention to finish as one of the best four third-placed teams who will progress to the last 16. It also eliminated a toothless Romanian side who finished bottom on one point. A lack of cutting edge made them easy prey for the competition's rank outsiders, who thrived in an intense atmosphere in Lyon's new stadium.
After a couple of solid defensive performances in defeats by Switzerland and France, Albania need to discover some scoring form against Romania, their Italian coach Gianni De Biasi said ahead of Sunday's vital Euro 2016 Group A fixture.
The 2016 Euro moves to its knockout rounds with eight teams taking an early flight home. The group stages saw some memorable action in which many records broken. Rediff.com takes a look at the standout stats from the 36 matches in the preliminary round.
France's hopes of reaching the World Cup finals are hanging by a thread after a 2-0 first-leg defeat away to Ukraine in their playoff on Friday while Cristiano Ronaldo's late winner gave Portugal the edge against Sweden.
An inspired performance from Douglas Costa helped Brazil to a 3-0 win over Peru on Tuesday and lifted them into third place in the South American qualifying group for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
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