European Championship U-21: Romania fails to reach final, defeated by Germany 4-2

The national football U-21 team of Romania was defeated by Germany Thursday evening 4-2 (1-2) in the semi-finals of the U-21 European Football Championship in Italy and San Marino, at the Renato Dall’Ara Stadium in Bologna.

Romania played another remarkable match, despite the decline in the last minutes, when Germany, reigning champions, managed to win.

Nadi Amiri (21^st min., 90th + 4) and Luca Waldschmidt (51^st min. – penalty, 90^th min.) scored for Germany. George Puşcaş (26^th minute – penalty and 44^th minute) scored for Romania.

Romania made a remarkable first half and led Germany 2-1 at the break.

Germany made the difference in the last minutes, after two fouls of Pascanu, and Waldschmidt scored in the 90^th minute and Amiri (90^th minute + 4), directly from a free kick from 18 meters.

Romania lost a match, but won a qualification in the Olympic Games in Tokyo after 56 years and a team for the future, which achieved a historic performance, it played a European Championship semifinal.

In the Sunday final at Udine, Germany will face the winner between Spain and France, the semi-final played at Reggio Emilia on Friday at 22:00h.

Teams:

Germany: 1. Alexander Nuebel – 3. Lukas Klostermann, 4. Jonathan Tah (captain), 5. Timo Baumgartl, 14. Maximilian Mittelstaedt – 6. Maximilian Eggestein (21. Arne Maier, 89^th min.) – 19. Florian Neuhaus (9. Lukas Nmecha, 79^th min.), 8. Mahmoud Dahoud (20. Robin Koch, 90th+3), 7. Levin Oeztunali – 10. Luca Waldschmidt, 18. Nadiem Amiri. Coach: Stefan Kuntz.

Romania: 1. Ionuţ Andrei Radu (captain) – 6. Cristian Manea, 5. Ionuţ Nedelcearu, 4. Alexandru Paşcanu, 3. Florin-Bogdan Ştefan – 21. Tudor Băluţă, 17. Alexandru Cicâldău (20. Andrei Ciobanu, 69^th min.) – 8. Dennis Man, 10. Ianis Hagi, 19. Andrei Ivan (7. Florinel Coman, 55^th min.) – 9. George Puşcaş (11. Adrian Petre, 87^th min.). Coach: Matei Mirel Rădoi.

Coach Mirel Radoi:

“I have no regrets, because the match was a simple one with two decisive moments. The first one was when their goalkeeper saved the shot from Puscas and the second one was Germany’s penalty kick in the second half. We have finished in the top four in Europe and made people at home happy. We can reach better results. We will remember the semi-finals, one step from the final. We will play in the Olympics this year,” Mirel Rădoi said at the end of the match.

“After this story, we will have to learn what we have learned 20 years ago, that we will not be given anything for free and we have to work to have results,” Radoi said.