Romania players celebrated with their yellow-clad fans after their first European Championship win in 24 years.
At the other end of Munich Arena, Ukraine’s players apologized to their supporters after the surprisingly bad 3-0 loss.
Goals from captain Nicolae Stanciu, Răzvan Marin and Denis Drăgus on Monday led Romania to only its second win in Euros history, after stunning England 3-2 at Euro 2000.
Edward Iordănescu, the first coach to lead Romania at a European Championship since his father Anghel in 2016, hailed his players as a “generation of soul.”
“A fantastic effort by my team. If you had any doubts, you can believe me now that this is a great team,” Iordănescu said a day after he turned 46. “We have had golden generations. But this nation does not represent any metal, it is the generation of soul.
“My family have lived these kind of situations for years. But such a big heart, such a soul as this team has, no one has had that. This has to be the generation of soul for Romania. This generation is limitless.”
Stanciu also hit the bar as Romania thoroughly beat up Ukraine, which is at Euro 2024 amid the backdrop of war at home and hoping to give its citizens some joy as they suffer from Russia’s invasion.
“Everyone apologized,” Ukraine coach Serhiy Rebrov said. “The players are feeling that they didn’t do enough. Because before the game we told them here we are representing the big, strong country which is fighting more than two years for our freedom.
“What I am feeling, what the players are feeling, that today we didn’t do good enough. That’s why they apologized. Now we have to shut our mouths and prepare very serious for the next game to show the other Ukraine.”
It was an emotional match for both sides. The stadium was a sea of yellow, the main color for both teams.
Romania was making its first appearance in a major tournament for eight years. Several players were in tears during the national anthem.
Just to underline its cause, Ukrainian soccer officials unveiled an installation in Munich of a stadium stand destroyed by Russian troops in May 2022.
“One team on the field but a million soldiers who stay and defend Ukraine,” said former Ukraine coach and striker Andriy Shevchenko, the president of the country’s soccer federation. “We are all together. We play today for the country. We play today for the people who defend our lives and our country.”
France 1, Austria 0
Kylian Mbappé suffered a facial injury and was replaced as France beat Austria 1-0 in its opening game of the European Championship on Monday.
The striker, involved in the first-half goal, clashed heads with Austria’s Kevin Danso late in the game and was in obvious pain on the grass, prompting Austria goalkeeper Patrick Pentz to signal for medical attention.
Mbappé received medical treatment and his shirt was covered with blood from what appeared to be a blow to his nose as a result of the incident in Dusseldorf. He tried to play on but quickly fell to the ground, holding his face and prompting whistles and jeers from Austria’s fans.
He was booked by the referee and replaced by Olivier Giroud.
France needed an own from Maximilian Wober off a Mbappé shot to beat Austria in the Group D game and hand Didier Deschamps his 100th win as national team coach.
Slovakia 1, Belgium 0
Two Romelu Lukaku goals were ruled out by video review and Belgium fell to a stunning 1-0 loss to Slovakia in wild Group E at the European Championship on Monday.
Slovakia struck in the seventh minute through forward Ivan Schranz then survived a string of misses by Belgium record scorer Lukaku, whose two second-half goals were overturned after first being given by the match officials, and all that playmaker Kevin De Bruyne could create.
Slovakia’s deserved win also was preserved by defender Dávid Hancko’s brave goal-line block that left him sprawled in the netting with a face injury inflicted by a teammate’s knee.
At the final whistle, the Slovakia squad and staff danced in front of their fans in the 45,181 crowd at the Waldstadion as their choice of victory music, the modern soccer anthem “Freed From Desire,” boomed out.
“This win means a lot not just for me but the whole Slovak nation,” said midfielder Stanislav Lobotka who was named player of the game. “Maybe not everyone has believed in us.”
Hancko returned to play on after stopping substitute Johan Bakayoko’s close-range shot in the 62nd, soon after Lukaku’s first ‘goal’ was overturned when a video review spotted an offside.
The second VAR intervention in the 86th was more open to debate and judged that Loïs Openda handled the ball before his decisive pass to Lukaku for a powerful shot.
“I want to be at least a good, fair loser,” Belgium coach Domenico Tedesco said about the match officials, who initially let the goal stand both times. “We trust these guys. We just have to accept it.”