First-half Isak & Gyokeres goals see Sweden make winning UNL start against Romania

[p]A quarter of a century on from when he last took charge of his nation, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hagi-gheorghe/4v9EM0Ct/"]Hagi[/a] had [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/radu-andrei/4xYjfkEG/"]Ionut Radu[/a] to thank for preventing an immediate disaster, as the goalkeeper batted away a curling effort from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/nanasi-sebastian/dIkk2y21/"]Sebastian Nanasi[/a] and blocked an [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/isak-alexander/p41IV42c/"]Alexander Isak[/a] effort from a tight angle inside the first minute.[/p][p]The visitors soon found their feet, though, and came close to taking the lead when an [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ratiu-andrei/Eo8SAMoI/"]Andrei Ratiu[/a] cross was met by a glancing header from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/munteanu-louis/Ugzfi6aP/"]Louis Munteanu[/a], which went just wide. However, they were powerless to stop the Swedish opener, which came when [b]a perfectly-weighted through ball from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ayari-yasin/vTrnQI0N/"]Yasin Ayari[/a] was met with a first-time hit from Isak, who fired past Radu [/b]for his first goal in four international outings.[/p][p]But [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/sweden/OQyqbHWB/"]Sweden[/a] were without a competitive clean sheet since the previous UNL campaign, and that continued just before the half-hour mark, as [b]Ratiu fired the ball into the feet of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/man-dennis/zwvX5g6l/"]Dennis Man[/a], who shrugged off his marker as he brought it under control and cushioned a half-volley past [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/johansson-viktor/hG7X4mv9/"]Viktor Johansson[/a].[/b][/p][embed guid="5a64b47e-09bd-4a31-b61b-a8fd454c3201" url="https://x.com/svenskfotboll/status/2103585190673301948" social-type="twitter" /][p]Ratiu went looking for another goal himself with a powerful strike that went inches over the crossbar, only for the Blagult to restore their lead on 43’, when [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bergvall-lucas/th3mAHj9/"]Lucas Bergvall[/a] tried a similar effort which Radu could only palm to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gyokeres-viktor/zaBZ1xIk/"]Viktor Gyokeres[/a], who turned in the rebound[/b] to ensure he too ended a wait of three internationals to score.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/romania/IaD8jZpU/"]Romania[/a]’s haul of 18 goals in the previous UNL cycle was bettered only by Sweden’s 19, and Graham Potter’s side thought they had opened a two-goal cushion 10 minutes after half-time. [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/stroud-elliot/4rVMk5Sb/"]Elliot Stroud[/a] fired into the top corner from 20 yards, only for the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/hull-city/S66R0t75/"]Hull City[/a] man to be denied a first international goal by VAR, due to a handball in the build-up.[/p][p]That came minutes after Stroud had sent a low effort a whisker wide following a mazy run, before the home side’s momentum was curtailed on the hour mark, when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/holm-emil/ANr5qAci/"]Emil Holm[/a] suffered a nasty injury that forced him to be stretchered off.[/p][p]Sweden lacked cutting edge in the final third as they looked to kill the game off late on, and that nearly came back to haunt them when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/screciu-vladimir/dGnstz81/"]Vladimir Screciu[/a] unleashed a testing drive which Johansson was equal to. From there, Sweden were able to close out [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/romania-IaD8jZpU/sweden-OQyqbHWB/?mid=f5mQYTn9"]a fourth win from their last five[/a] matches on home soil, while it’s now seven matches on their travels with neither a victory nor a clean sheet for Romania.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/soccer/europe/uefa-nations-league/"]Review all tonight's UNL results on Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p]