Romania v Switzerland, Wednesday June 15
Paris, Live on ITV, 5pm
The second round of Group A matches kicks off in Paris on Wednesday afternoon when Romania meet Switzerland at the Stade de France (kick off 5pm – ITV). Switzerland will be looking to wrap up qualification whilst Romania will be looking to bounce back from defeat in their opening game.
Romania – the story so far
Romania can consider themselves pretty unfortunate not to have come away from their opening game against hosts France without a point, as Dimitri Payet’s wonder strike consigned them to a late, late defeat.
Up until that point, the Romanian’s had provided France with a stern test, keeping things level until half time, and then bouncing back from conceding the first goals to tie up the game – Bogdan Stancu scoring from the penalty spot in the 65th minute to level the game. Throughout the match Romania were well organised and were a constant threat to the French defence and they certainly provided France with a far tougher challenge than many pundits would have predicted. Against Switzerland they should feel fairly confident of their chances of picking up at least a point.
Switzerland – the story so far
Switzerland will be looking to secure qualification to the Round of 16 with a win on Wednesday evening. In their opening game against Albania, they managed to record a 1-0 win, despite a spirited performance from a resilient Albanian side. The Swiss were rewarded for a bright start when defender Fabian Schar headed in Xherdan Shaqiri’s corner after just 5 minutes.
Swiss striker Haris Seferovic missed a number of presentable chances during the game, and the Swiss will be looking to him and man of the match Granit Xhaka to put in another good performance in this game. It seems unlikely that manager Vladimir Petkovic will change a winning side, but if he does so he may look to introduce 19-year-old Breel Embolo who impressed when coming off the bench in the second half.
This one looks like being a tight game. The Romanians were excellent defensively in qualification and unlucky in their opening game against France. Switzerland looked blunt in front of goal against the Albanians and this match looks likely to be settled by a single goal.
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