The strange selection made by Mircea Lucescu for the opening match of the World Cup 2026 preliminaries immediately showed “results,” and Romania lost the match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, played at the National Arena in Bucharest.
Bosnia had the first chance of the match through Demirovic in the 2nd minute, and the goal fell into Niță’s net in the 14th minute when Kolasinac served Armin Gigovic who opened the score. Denis Drăguș missed the first big chance for the hosts in the 26th minute when he shot wide and failed to score from the penalty spot in the third minute of first-half extra time.
The second half saw Romania’s first shot on goal, with Răzvan Marin sending a dangerous shot past Vasilj in the 47th minute. After only six minutes, the ball fell to Tahirovic’s hand in the Bosnian box, but after a VAR check, referee Makkelie whistled for the game to continue.
