No two ways about it: It’s a mini-final

THE winner keeps its hopes alive. The loser heads for an early exit.

Albania and Romania, two gutsy sides that have endured heartbreaking last-minute losses to France, meet today in a match that will send at least one of them out of the tournament.

Romania enters the match in Lyon in third place in Group A with one point, while Albania has zero. France is already through to the knockout rounds with six points, and Switzerland has four points before the group’s top two teams also play today.

Romania can aspire to a win over Albania which, combined with a Switzerland loss to France, would give it second place and a berth in the round of 16 if it also surpasses the Swiss on goal difference or goals scored.

But without some help, Romania will be in the same situation as Albania: clinging to the chance of finishing among the top-four thirdplace teams of the six groups. That would be good enough to send them through in the expanded tournament of 24 teams.

It means that Albania and Romania, teams built on a strong defence, will have to consider a more attacking approach than in their first two matches, when grit and effort abounded, but goals were sorely lacking.

“It’s a matter of life or death as a draw won’t help either of us,” Romania forward Florin Andone said. “It will be a tough match. Look at how hard they fought in the two matches they’ve lost; look at how well they played. We have to get it into our heads that we have to give it our all and play a good game with no mistakes.”

Bogdan Stancu has scored Romania’s only two goals. But both came from the penalty spot after rash fouls by defenders; first in a 2-1 loss to France, and then in a 1-1 draw with Switzerland that Romania led until the second half.

Albania has yet to find the net, but coach Giovanni de Biasi, who turned 60 this week, is right to be proud of how the tournament debutante has fared so far.

Already down an early goal, Albania held firm after being reduced to 10 men before half time and kept intact its chances of equalising in a 1-0 loss to Switzerland.

Albania then pushed title contenders France to the 90th-minute before conceding twice to the competition’s hosts in a deflating 2-0 loss.

We have to get it into our heads that we have to give it our all and play a good game

FRANCE are through to the last 16.

They have a 100% record, but have flattered to deceive thus far.

Against Albania they failed to produce a shot on target until injury time.

However, despite that, West Ham’s Dimitri Payet continues to excel. He found the going tough in the first half as he struggled to find space but continually showed for the ball.

His persistence paid dividends come the second half and he was rewarded with a second goal of the tournament late on. Having not even been guaranteed a start a few months ago, he is slowly emerging as a leader for this French team.

It would be easy to say after full time that coach Didier Deschamps made the right decision in axing Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann given that France won 2-0 to secure their place in the last 16 of Euro 2016.

However, what that wouldn’t fairly portray is the fact that the hosts floundered badly for much of the match and that it was Griezmann and Pogba’s second-half introductions which hauled Deschamps’s side to victory.

Payet’s late goal saw the diminutive midfielder grab the headlines again, but Griezmann had already bailed his manager out. — Agencies

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