SOCCER-VERTONGHEN AND TIELEMANS START FOR BELGIUM AGAINST ROMANIA

By Martyn Herman

COLOGNE, Germany (Reuters) - Belgium manager Domenico Tedesco made four changes to his starting line-up for Saturday's vital Group E clash against Romania with experienced defender Jan Vertonghen returning to defence along with Arthur Theate.

Tedesco has tweaked his line-up after the shock defeat by Slovakia with the 37-year-old Vertonghen earning his 155th cap. Both he and Theate missed the opener as they recovered from injuries.

He has also changed his misfiring forward line with Youri Tielemans preferred to Leandro Trossard and Dodi Lukebakio starting instead of Yannick Carrasco.

Romania have stuck largely by the team that began the 3-0 victory over Ukraine with the only change being in midfield where Valentin Mihaila starts instead of Florinel Coman.

Romania will guarantee a last-16 spot with a victory while Belgium can ill afford another defeat although the group will not be decided until the last round of fixtures.

Belgium: Koen Casteels, Timothy Castagne, Jan Vertonghen, Wout Faes, Arthur Theate, Amadou Onana, Youri Tielemans, Kevin De Bruyne (c), Dodi Lukebakio, Jeremy Doku, Romelu Lukaku.

Romania: Florin Nita, Andrei Ratiu, Radu Dragusin, Andrei Burca, Nicusor Bancu, Marius Marin, Razvan Marin, Valentin Mihaila, Dennis Man, Nicolae Stanciu (c), Denis Dragus.

(Reporting by Martin Petty; Editing by Toby Chopra)

2024-06-22T19:16:26Z dg43tfdfdgfd