Slovakia 1-1 Romania: Razvan Marin’s first-half equaliser sees Romania top Group E ahead of Belgium and qualify for the knockout rounds for the first time in 24 years

Slovakia and Romania knew it would be enough to advance to the knockout stages of Euro 2024, yet they both did their utmost to debunk conspiracy theorists who claimed they were colluding before a ball was even kicked.

Most of this match was played with a competitive edge, with the final 10 minutes being the exception as the fear of losing seemingly seeped into the players’ minds. Wary of falling out of the tournament, this match suddenly resembled walking football, with the ball even taken into the corner to protect this tie.

There was joy and cheering at the final whistle as Ukraine were the unluckiest team of the four in Group E to be eliminated, despite all finishing on the same number of points.

Slovakia head coach Francesco Calzona had refused to entertain such nonsense surrounding a gentlemen’s agreement with Romania, insisting they would only try to win.

It is in Calzona’s native Italy that the word ‘biscotto’ is used to describe a situation in which two opponents achieve a favorable result at the expense of a third party, coming from the Latin for ‘twice cooked’. At Euro 2004, the Italians were eliminated undefeated in the group stage with five points, the same total as Sweden and Denmark.

The Swedes and Danes advanced as their 2-2 draw in the last match both left them above Italy – much to the satisfaction of a supporter with a homemade sign that read: ‘2-2 = Nordic victory! Goodbye Italy.’

Frankfurt’s Waldstadion was packed with Romanian fans, who outnumbered their Slovakian counterparts, and as Calzona promised, a match of competitive football emerged.

In the 10th minute, several Slovak players crossed their arms at a corner, as if they were West Ham supporters. It was the signal for the outswinging cross to be curled towards the penalty spot, where Milan Skriniar fired a volley into the stands. In the 11th minute, blue-haired Andrei Rațiu, nicknamed ‘Sonic’, forced Martin Dubravka into a diving save before Ianis Hagi fired the rebound over.

It was end-to-end, with Lukas Haraslin’s crossed free-kick evading David Hancko, Skriniar and Juraj Kucka as the ball bounced around the Romanian penalty area. Yet Slovakia took the lead in the 24th minute when Kucka’s cross headed home Ondrej Duda – the Hellas Verona midfielder with ‘work hard’ tattooed on one knee and ‘play hard’ on the other.

In the 34th minute, Hancko Hagi tripped on the edge of the penalty area. German referee Daniel Siebert initially awarded the free kick, but VAR Bastian Dankert increased the penalty to a penalty after noticing the challenge continued in the area. Razvan Marin stepped up and equalized emphatically in the top left corner for 1-1.

At half-time, Group E showed four teams with four points, while Ukraine did not have Euro 2024 in the current situation. Early in the second half, Haraslin jabbed Florin Nita’s palms before Marin returned the favor to Dubravka as the heavens opened in Frankfurt.

Even Thor wanted to see if this would end in a draw, it seemed, as thunder became the soundtrack for the closing stages of this showdown.

Slovakia came closest when Haraslin whipped a curling ball towards the far corner as the downpour turned the pitch into a swamp, but by the end you knew where this was going. At the end of the match, both celebrated exuberantly, with Romania leading the group and Slovakia third.