Romania defeated Cyprus 2-0 Tuesday evening in the Group H of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Florin Tanase scored a goal in the 43rd minute and Dennis Man in the 2nd minute of overtime in the first half in front of 45,000 spectators at Bucharest National Arena in a match in which Romanian dominated throughout.
The first chance came in the 12th minute when Tanase took a free kick from the edge of the box, goalkeeper Mall parried it, then Mihai Popescu followed up from close range, but the Cypriot keeper made another save.
Popescu headed wide (20′) after a corner taken by Mihaila.
A controversial moment occurred in the 25th minute when Kastanos fouled Sut. The Cypriot was given a yellow card, and although referee Rumsas was called by VAR, the original on-field decision stood.
Man sent a good shot from the edge of the box in the 30th minute, which Mall intercepted.
Chiriches and Popescu made a series of errors in the 42nd minute, allowing three Cypriot players through against Moldovan, but the Romanian keeper easily saved Anderson Correia’s shot.
Immediately after the resulting corner, Man launched a counterattack and passed to Tanase, who was unmarked and opened the scoring in the 43rd minute.
Romania scored again before halftime, through Man (45+2′), with a shot from inside the box after a one-two with Dragus.
The second half had few clear chances.
Mitrita’s shot was blocked by Shelis (73′), and later, the Universitatea Craiova player failed to dribble past Mall in a one-on-one situation (89′).
Romania’s last chance came in stoppage time (90+4) when Alibec’s 25-metre shot was caught by Mall.
Romania’s next official match will take place on September 9, away against Cyprus, following a friendly against Canada on September 5 in Bucharest.
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