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EURO 2016 match preview: Romania vs Switzerland



Victory at the Parc des Princes will ensure Switzerland reach the knock-out stage of the European Championship finals for the first time - and become the first side at Euro 2016 to guarantee their place in the last 16.


The Swiss made a flying start to their campaign, opening the scoring against Albania inside five minutes through Fabian Schar, but they surprisingly struggled to maintain that momentum - despite their opponents playing the final 54 minutes with 10 men.

Dimitri Payet's brilliant strike condemned Romania to defeat in Euro 2016's opening game, but they could take heart from an encouraging performance against tournament favourites France. However, coach Anghel Iordanescu is concerned his team could struggle to recover from their narrow defeat.

"It will be very difficult to re-establish the players' physical form and their fitness because they're absolutely exhausted," he said afterwards.

Team News

Romania must decide whether to keep faith with left-back Razvan Rat, 35, whose lack of pace was occasionally exposed in the defeat by France.

Coach Anghel Iordanescu could instead turn to Steliano Filip, 22, in order to limit the threat posed by Swiss winger Xherdan Shaqiri.

Switzerland may name an unchanged side as they look to build on their win against Albania.

Midfielder Blerim Dzemaili is set to win his 50th cap in Wednesday's game.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

In 12 previous meetings each side has recoded five wins, with two draws.
The only previous encounter at a major tournament was at the 1994 World Cup. The Swiss, coached by Roy Hodgson, beat Romania 4-1 in the group stage in Detroit.
Romania have failed to score more than one goal in their last eight matches against Switzerland. The last time they netted more than one against them was in November 1968, in a 2-0 win.
Gheorghe Grozav's goal for Romania proved to be the difference between these sides when they last met, in a friendly on Swiss soil in May 2012.

Romania


  • They have only won one of 14 games at the European Championship - that was the 3-2 victory against England in 2000.
  • Romania have also kept just one clean sheet at the tournament - in a 0-0 draw with France at Euro 2008.
  • Bogdan Stancu was responsible for both of Romania's shots on target against France in the opening game, including the goal from the penalty spot.
  • They have only won three of 12 games in the last year (D7, L2).

Switzerland


  • Switzerland have won back-to-back European Championship finals matches without conceding. They had failed to win their previous eight games at the tournament, keeping just one clean sheet.
  • Granit Xhaka created the joint-most goalscoring chances (three), made more passes (115) and had the most touches (129) of any player in Switzerland's opening game.
  • Xherdan Shaqiri has had a hand in nine goals in his last eight competitive appearances for Switzerland (four goals, five assists).



Possible line-ups

Switzerland: Sommer; Lichtsteiner, Schär, Djourou, Rodríguez; Behrami, Džemaili, Xhaka; Shaqiri, 
Seferović, Mehmedi.

Romania: TătăruÈ™anu; Săpunaru, ChiricheÈ™, Grigore, RaÈ›; Pintilii, Hoban; Torje, Stanciu, Stancu; KeÈ™erü.
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