CALCUTTA: It’s a story of father and son. The last time Romania qualified for the staged stages of the European Championships, Gheorghe Hagi retired to help. On Wednesday, his son did it. Ianis Hagi joins the list of Marcus Thuram, Federico Chiesa and Francisco Conceciao, sons of illustrious footballer parents at Euro 2024.
The 25-year-old has a left foot that inevitably draws comparisons to his father, known as Maradona of the Carpathians. A roving career at the club in search of playing time led to him not being a normal starter in the national team and Hagi Senior has made clear his displeasure at this. I can’t pay attention to all the parents,” Romanian coach Edward Iordanescu said.
But here he is among the 11 most sensible in Frankfurt, a first starting place for Euro 2024 awarded by Iordanescu in place of Dennis Man. And here’s the succession story: Edward’s father, Anghel, is one of Romania’s best-known coaches.
Hagi could have scored in the 11th minute but missed his shot. Twenty-two minutes later, with Romania advancing in the game and in danger of being eliminated if things continued like this, he attacked David Hancko and, with a pivot, beat the Slovakian. While everyone was looking in the stadium for the dice that show the replays, it took almost two minutes for VAR to overturn referee Danile Siebert’s decision to award a shot.
Razvan Marin stood up and shot so hard that even if he had hit, Martin Dubravka would have needed a bit of effort. A moment of magic allowed Romania to neutralize Ondrej Duda’s clever header in the 37th minute in the 24th. The 1 -1 result was synonymous with celebrations, as both groups qualified for the round of 16.
Duda’s goal came after a raking ball deep from Milan Skriniar discovered Peter Pekarik in the clash. The Slovakian right-back responded to Juraj Kucka, whose shot went into Romania’s left hole in the centre of their defence. Just as Florin Nita was gesturing and as Marin approached, Duda jumped up and directed his head.
Hagi was replaced in the 66th minute by Man, but not before returning Marin. This time, the player who had put his laces in a shot against Ukraine used his outside and Dubravka saved. Before, Denis Dragus had functions left and on the right, including Hagi, but he had to pass alone and failed his attempt. At the end of the first half, Hagi almost discovered Florinel Coman with a long pass, almost converting what seemed like Romania were stagnant into a chance.
Part of the moment was played in pouring rain. At that point, Slovakia tested Nita through David Strelec, the goalkeeper who kept Romania in the game sticking out a leg despite a poor move. Then, under Nita’s helpless gaze, Lukas Haraslin realized that his shot was not deflected far enough.
Both organisations had vowed to aim for victory and, when Romania tried to come back from distance, a shot from Duda allowed Ivan Schranz to take the lead. Coming off in the 78th minute, Schranz was left without being among the nine players in the team’s history. The festival to score in all the matches of the league organization.