Bennaoum double not enough as Romania edge Canada 3-2
Sami Bennaoum scored twice and Canada went toe to toe with Romania for 40 minutes at Kennedyplatz on Sunday, but a penalty in the 42nd minute, with regulation time already gone, gave Romania a 3-2 win and left Group J finely balanced.
It was a far tighter afternoon than Friday's opener. Canada, who had swept Uzbekistan aside 12-0 two days earlier, found an opponent willing to trade chances with them, and the game swung both ways before Romania settled it from the spot.
Bennaoum put Canada in front on 20 minutes and it stayed that way to the break. Romania came back through Alin Robu on 27 minutes, then took the lead for the first time when Stefan Ghinea finished on 34. With the clock running down Bennaoum struck again on 39 to make it 2-2, his second of the match and fourth of the tournament, and Canada looked set to take a point from a game they had spent most of the second half chasing.
The decisive moment came after the 40 minutes were up. Romania were awarded a penalty and Gicu Iordache buried it in the 42nd minute for 3-2. Romania's only other entry on the match sheet was a yellow card for Mircea Stupu on 36 minutes.
Bennaoum's two goals take him to four in two matches and make him Canada's leading scorer in Essen, ahead of Adrian Jasic and Sebastian Lopez, who both took home hat-tricks against Uzbekistan but did not get on the sheet here. The bigger question for Goran Zivkovic's side is less about who scored than about what changed. After conceding nothing in their opener, Canada gave up three goals in 42 minutes to a Romanian team that had lost 1-0 to Spain on day one.
The result left Canada and Romania level on three points after two rounds, with Spain top of the group on six after beating Uzbekistan 14-0 in the evening session. Canada's goal difference of plus 11, built almost entirely on Friday night, kept them ahead of Romania on the Sunday table.
That cushion has since been eaten into. Romania closed out their group stage with an 18-1 win over Uzbekistan on Tuesday morning, finishing on six points and a goal difference of plus 17. That currently places them fourth in the ranking of group winners, inside the eight that go straight to the Round of 16.
Everything now rests on Tuesday's 19:00 meeting with Spain. Canada need the win to stay in the group race, and the margin matters, because a Canadian victory would leave Spain, Romania and Canada all on six points with goal difference doing the separating. Second place is not the end of the road either: group runners-up go into the Play-In Round against the group winners ranked ninth to twelfth, with Round of 16 places on the line.
Spain arrive as European champions with two wins, 15 goals scored and none conceded. Canada have already shown what their attack can do to a side that gives them space, and on Sunday they went the full distance with a team that had held Spain to a single goal. One more result puts them in the knockout picture.
