Under-17 EURO: Group C preview
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
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Germany loom large for Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Ireland and Serbia in UEFA European Under-17 Championship Group C on Croatia's northern Adriatic coast.
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Bosnia and Herzegovina
Previous final tournaments: 1
Most recent: 2016
Best performance: group stage
Qualifying round: Latvia 3-0, Moldova 1-0, Russia 1-2 (Group 1 runners-up)
Elite round: Slovenia 0-0, Czech Republic 2-1, England 0-1 (Group 7 runners-up)
Top scorer: Milan Šikanjić 2
Sakib Malkočević, coach: Our first match is against Germany, a big favourite not only in our group but for the tournament as a whole. It was a tough road to get here so we'll do the best we can to represent our country and play as well as possible.
Germany
Previous final tournaments: 9
Most recent: 2016
Best performance: winners 2009
Qualifying round: bye
Elite round: Armenia 10-1, Finland 6-2, Turkey 3-1 (Group 1 winners)
Top scorer: Elias Abouchabaka 5
Christian Wück, coach: We don't feel the pressure of being one of the so-called favourites for this tournament. It will be a great experience for my players. We have a good team and want to score as many goals as we can. It is going to be a tough opening match because Bosnia and Herzegovina will be very defensive, but we have to find a way to break through.
Republic of Ireland
Previous final tournaments: 2
Most recent: 2015
Best performance: group stage
Qualifying round: Andorra 5-1, Kazakhstan 3-1, Greece 1-0 (Group 2 winners)
Elite round: Faroe Islands 4-0, Slovakia 1-0, Cyprus 2-0 (Group 8 winners)
Top scorer: Aaron Connolly 7
Colin O'Brien, coach: We had good run at the qualifiers, but that is in the past. Our first goal is to go through to the second round. We have very good team spirit and this is a great oportunity for the guys.
Serbia
Previous final tournaments: 5
Most recent: 2016
Best performance: quarter-finals 2002
Qualifying round: FYR Macedonia 3-1, Albania 2-0, Italy 0-2 (Group 4 runners-up)
Elite round: Switzerland 2-1, Scotland 0-1, Montenegro 1-0 (Group 4 runners-up)
Top scorer: Filip Stuparević 4
Perica Ognjenović, coach: We expect a great tournament and hope to play good football. The players are still kids so you can't really predict results, but we'll do the best we can. We're only thinking about the first match against Ireland and we'll take it from there.