Football: Romania defeats Cyprus 2-0 in 2026 World Cup qualifiers
Romania's national football team defeated Cyprus 2-0 (2-0) on Tuesday evening at the National Arena in Bucharest, in Group H of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
The Tricolours won through goals scored by Florin Tanase (43') and Dennis Man (45+2').
Romania did not make an impressive match, but still won without any problem, remaining in the race for the top positions.
The first chances came in the 12th minute when Tanase took a free kick from the edge of the box, goalkeeper Mall parried it, then Mihai Popescu followed up from close range, but the Cypriot keeper made another save.
Popescu headed wide (20') after a corner taken by Mihaila.
A controversial moment occurred in the 25th minute when Kastanos fouled Sut hard. The Cypriot received a yellow card, and although referee Rumsas was called by VAR, the original on-field decision stood.
Man sent a good shot from the edge of the box in the 30th minute, which Mall saved fast.
The end of the first half was very intense. In the 39th minute, Tanase was sent through on goal by Chiriches on a counterattack and reached the ball at the same time as Mall. Rumsas was once again called to VAR for a potential red card but, after watching the replay, decided there was no wrongdoing.
Chiriches and Popescu made a series of errors in the 42nd minute, allowing three Cypriot players through against Moldovan, but Anderson Correia shot poorly, and the Romanian keeper saved.
Immediately after the resulting corner, Man launched a counterattack and passed to Tanase, who was unmarked and opened the scoring in the 43rd minute.
Romania scored again before halftime, through Man (45+2'), with a shot from inside the box after a one-two with Dragus.
The second half had few clear chances.
Mitrita's shot was blocked by Shelis (73'), and later, the Universitatea Craiova player failed to dribble past Mall in a one-on-one situation (89').
Romania's last chance came in stoppage time (90+4) when Alibec's 25-metre shot was caught by Mall.
Romania's next official match will take place on September 9, away against Cyprus, following a friendly against Canada on September 5 in Bucharest.
Romania - Cyprus 2-0 (2-0)
Goals: Florin Tanase (43), Dennis Man (45+2).
Location: Bucharest, National Arena: 45,324 spectators
2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers - Group H
Lineups:
Romania:
12. Horatiu Moldovan - 2. Andrei Ratiu (captain), 3. Mihai Popescu, 15. Andrei Burca (4. Virgil Ghita, 73'), 23. Deian Sorescu - 8. Adrian Sut, 21. Vlad Chiriches (6. Marius Marin, 56') - 10. Dennis Man (11. David Miculescu, 82'), 19. Florin Tanase (7. Denis Alibec, 73'), 13. Valentin Mihaila (22. Alexandru Mitrita, 56') - 9. Denis Dragus.
Coach: Mircea Lucescu
Unused substitutes: 1. Florin Nita, 16. Stefan Tarnovanu - 5. Ionut Nedelcearu, 14. Valentin Cretu, 17. Vladimir Screciu, 18. Razvan Marin, 20. Raul Oprut.
Cyprus:
Joel Mall - 6. Giannis Satsias, 15. Christos Shelis, 19. Konstantinos Laifis, 14. Georgios Malekkidis - 23. Ioannis Costi (5. Charalampos Charalampous, 46'), 20. Grigoris Kastanos (captain), 8. Charalampos Kyriakou (18. Kostakis Artymatas, 81'), 7. Anderson Correia (21. Marinos Tzionis, 62') - 17. Loizos Loizou (9. Marios Ilia, 46'), 11. Andronikos Kakoulli (12. Nicolas Koutsakos, 46')
Coach: Apostolos Mantzios.
Unused substitutes: 13. Demetris Demetriou, 22. Neofytos Michael - 2. Kostas Pileas, 3. Nikolaos Panagiotou, 4. Antreas Shikkis, 10. Pieros Sotiriou, 16. Evagoras Antoniou.
Referee: Donatas Rumsas; Assistant referees: Aleksandr Radius, Dovydas Suziedelis; Fourth official: Robertas Valikonis (all from Lithuania)
Video Referee: Donatas Simenas; Video Assistant Referee: Orestas Abramavicius (both from Lithuania)
UEFA referee observer: Emil Bozinovski (North Macedonia); UEFA delegate: Rotem Kamer (Israel)
Yellow cards: Kastanos (25'), Tanase (26'), Satsias (65').
AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Mihai Tenea; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)
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