Win or go home. That’s the cold reality for both Romania and Albania as they get set for their make-or-break clash at Parc Olympique Lyonnais this coming Sunday. Only a victory will do for either side so expect both teams to lay it all on the line in this mouth-watering Group A showdown.
Who will emerge victorious in this pivotal match? Read on below for an in-depth preview of this critical showdown and while you’re at it, you can check out our preview of the other Group A encounter between leaders France and Switzerland.
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Romania’s Euro 2016 campaign is definitely hanging in the balance after enduring a frustrating 1-1 stalemate against Switzerland on Wednesday. It was a disappointing result for Romania who for the second successive game dropped points because of an incredible strike. This time around, it was Admir Mehmedi who delivered the killer blow against them with a stunning first-time shot in the 57th minute. As a result of that draw, Romania now sit in third place in Group A with just a solitary point to their name.
That being said, the Romanians will take heart in the fact that they produced a much powerful performance this time around against the Swiss compared to their opener against France. Romania even had a grand opportunity to take all three points in this match but Cristian Sapunaru’s shot agonizingly hit the post in the first half.
The Romanians will need to bring all their attacking flair if they are to grab the all-important win against Albania. The onus then is on Bogdan Stancu to carry the scoring cudgels for Romania in this match. He has scored his side’s two goals in the competition – both from the penalty spot. Stancu is only the third player to score more than one penalty in a Euro finals tournament. The Gençlerbirliği striker has scored 11 goals in 42 international appearances for Romania.
Romania is pegged at -150to score first in this match.
Albania’s Euro campaign may have started off on the wrong foot but there were still plenty of positives for the Albanians to take heading into their winner-take-all clash with Romania this coming Sunday. Even though they lost 2-0 to France on Wednesday, the Albanians will take comfort in the fact that it wasn’t a one-sided contest and that they gave their highly-favored opponents fits the entire match.
In fact, the Albanians had a grand opportunity to take the lead but Ledian Memushaj’s bundled shot struck the post right after halftime. France’s pressure eventually paid off, though, with Antoine Griezmann and Dimitri Payet scoring dramatic late goals. That performance, though, will give Albania all the confidence they need heading to their showdown with Romania. For them to grab all three points against the Romanians, the Albanians need to improve on their ball possession. Albania only had 40 percent of the possession in their match against France. That clearly had an effect on their attacks as Albania was only able to create eight shot attempts against France with none of those going on target.
The onus now is on Armando Sadiku to carry the scoring load for Albania. He’s the creative heart of this Albanian side but unfortunately for Sadiku, he hasn’t set this tournament alight just yet. Surprisingly, Sadiku hasn’t scored a goal in this competition thus far. The FC Zurich striker has racked up five goals in 20 international caps for Albania in his career.
Albania is pegged at +138to score first in this match.
