Ukraine delivered a statement of intent by beating Romania 4-3 in a lively encounter on Sunday after taking advantage of sloppy defending in their penultimate friendly before Euro 2016 kicks off in France next month.
Mykhaylo Fomenko’s team inflicted Romania’s first loss since June 2014 and showed Ukraine should not be taken lightly after they scored four times in 15 minutes in Turin, Italy, against a team who had conceded just two goals in their qualifying campaign.
Romania coach Anghel Iordanescu made nine changes from the 1-1 draw against the Democratic Republic of the Congo in their previous warm-up game on Wednesday last week, with captain Vlad Chiriches and midfielder Mihai Pintilii the only survivors.
Iordanescu’s side took the lead in the 23rd minute when Gabriel Torje fired a thunderous shot past goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov from just outside the penalty area for his 10th international goal.
Ukraine leveled two minutes before the break when Roman Zozulya slid in at the far post after centerback Chiriches failed to clear Vyacheslav Shevchuk’s cross from the left.
Ukraine teenager Oleksandr Zinchenko made it 2-1 with his first international goal on his second substitute appearance three minutes after coming on at halftime.
He became the youngest player to score for Ukraine at the age of 19 years, 165 days ahead of Andriy Shevchenko, who got his first goal for his nation aged 19 years, 214 days.
The tricky Yehven Konoplyanka then added a third goal for Ukraine six minutes later and Andriy Yarmolenko made it 4-1 on the hour mark when Konoplyanka turned provider.
Romania, who conceded four for the first time since a 4-0 defeat by the Netherlands in March 2013, cut the deficit when Denis Alibec scored his first international goal in the 75th minute, before Nicolae Stanciu struck 10 minutes later.
Alibec netted a superb free-kick 17 minutes after coming on, while Stanciu scored his third goal in four internationals.
“It was a good first half in which we controlled the game — we created chances and we managed to score — but then we committed big individual mistakes, horrible mistakes. I can’t forget the mistakes, made by experienced players,” Romania coach Iordanescu told Digi Sport TV. “Thanks to the changes in the second half, we managed to get back in the game and score twice.”
The teams play their final friendlies on Friday when Romania host Georgia in Bucharest and Ukraine meet Albania in Bergamo, Italy.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but