Sweden beat Romania 2-1 as Hagi suffers defeat in his first match of new mandate

Match report

On Friday evening at the Strawberry Arena in Solna/Stockholm (capacity 50,000), Sweden defeated Romania 2-1 in the opening round of Group B4 of the UEFA Nations League's B division. The hosts started brightly, creating danger at Ionuț Radu's goal in the very first minute, though the Romanian goalkeeper kept his side in the game. Romania gradually settled and came close to scoring in the 14th and 16th minutes — one header struck the post, another effort was ruled out for offside. Sweden took the lead in the 20th minute when Alexander Isak beat defender Ghiță and finished into the far corner. Romania equalised in the 29th minute: after a move started by Ianis Hagi and continued by Rațiu, Dennis Man lobbed the goalkeeper and the ball went in off the post at the near corner. Shortly before halftime, Sweden appealed for a penalty over a possible handball, but VAR upheld the referee's original no-penalty decision. Sweden retook the lead in first-half stoppage of play, in the 43rd minute, when Viktor Gyökeres scored to make it 2-1.

VAR overturns a third goal

Sweden continued to dominate after the break. Elliot Stroud appeared to extend the lead with a long-range strike, but the goal was disallowed after a VAR review found Isak had used his hand in the build-up — a decision confirmed by Czech referee Ondřej Berka. Sources differ slightly on the exact minute: Digi24 reports the 53rd minute, while Digi Sport cites the 54th–55th minute. Coach Hagi made several substitutions in the second half, but Romania failed to create further clear chances, and the match ended in a Swedish win.

Context

This was the first official match of Gheorghe Hagi's new tenure as Romania's head coach, and it ended in defeat. According to Digi Sport, around 2,500 Romanian fans were present in the stands. As reported by Sport.ro, this was Sweden's 15th consecutive match conceding at least one goal, matching a negative record set in 1950 (16 straight matches conceding); should Sweden concede again in their next match against Poland, they would set a new worst record.

According to the Romanian Football Federation (FRF), ahead of this trip — which involves four matches in just 10 days — Hagi did not travel with all 32 initially called-up players; nine of them (Daniel Bîrligea, Raul Opruț, David Matei, Cătălin Cîrjan, Marius Marin, Alexandru Cicâldău, Tony Strata, Bogdan Racovițan and Olimpiu Moruțan) remained training at the National Football Centre in Mogoșoaia.

Romania's next match is scheduled for September 28 against Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the return fixture against Sweden set for October 5 in Bucharest. In the group's other match, Poland and Bosnia and Herzegovina drew 0-0 in Warsaw.