YEREVAN, Armenia — Trailing 2-1 in the 87th minute, Armenia scored twice to beat 10-man Romania 3-2 on Wednesday for its third straight win in World Cup qualifying.
Armenia has never come close to qualifying for a World Cup before, but those three wins already make it the country’s second-best qualifying campaign. It’s a remarkable turnaround for a country that was beaten 9-1 by Italy as recently as 2019.
Eduard Spertsyan’s deflected shot in his first international game gave Armenia the lead in the 56th but Romania hit back when Alexandru Cicaldau tapped in a pass which had taken a fortunate ricochet. Cicaldau then made it 2-1 with a deflected header, but Romania forward George Puscas was sent off in the 78th when he went for a dangerous high challenge and his foot struck an opponent in the chest.
Romania clung onto its lead until the 87th, when Armenia captain Varazdat Haroyan turned in Tigran Barseghyan’s cross from what Romania firmly felt was an offside position. Two minutes later, Armenia was ahead again after Spertsyan was tripped and Barseghyan converted the penalty with almost no run-up.
Romania has played at the World Cup seven times, but not since 1998, and its wait looks set to continue after beginning the group-stage campaign with one win and two losses.
Later in Group J on Wednesday, Germany hosted North Macedonia and Iceland visited Liechtenstein.
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