Turkey on course for trophy defence

Turkey are on the right track to defend the UEFA European Under-17 Championship title after cruising through qualifying round Group 9 with three victories to progress along with Romania, who pipped Croatia on goal difference thanks to a stunning individual performance on Matchday 3.

Final day drama
As the final day dawned, Turkey needed only a draw against Croatia to reach the Elite round, while Romania had to both defeat pool hosts F.Y.R. Macedonia in Struga, and hope Croatia - with who they drew 0-0 - lost, and overhaul their goal difference deficit. Romania needed a two-goal win to give themselves the best chance of progressing, and Marius Jianu scored on 20 and 22 minutes to give them the requisite lead, before adding two more himself in the first four minutes of the second half to round off a 4-0 win.

Croatia denied
They then learned from Ohrid that Croatia had lost to a Vedat Tasdemir goal five minutes from time, giving Turkey first place by a five-point margin, with Romania two goals ahead of Croatia, who cannot finish as the best third-place team, meaning there will be no repeat of the run that took their crop of 2004/05 to the semi-finals in Italy, where Turkey also ended their campaign.

Opening wins
It seemed like the two 2004/05 qualifiers were both on course after the first games. Turkey overcame Romania 1-0 in Ohrid, substitute Harun Terum claiming the only goal in the 64th minute. Croatia doubled that scoreline against F.Y.R. Macedonia in Struga, Milan Badelj striking in the 32nd minute and half-time substitute Tomislav Havojic getting the second in the closing moments.

Turkey through
Two days later at the same venue, a victory against Romania would have been enough to take Croatia into the Elite round draw. However, the game ended goalless, so only Turkey made sure of their further participation as they ended F.Y.R. Macedonia's campaign with a 4-1 win. Ferhat Kiraz's 31st-minute goal was cancelled out before the break by Zoran Simonovski, but Tasdemir restored Turkey's advantage with efforts on 53 and 56 minutes, and substitute Irfan Basaran wrapped things up late on.

Promising omens
Croatia still held second place, but that was to change with their late defeat by the reigning champions. And the two victorious nations can take some useful omens from this mini-tournament - last year Turkey began their successful campaign by finishing top of qualifying round Group 9, while Romania can reflect that the team that ended second on goal difference in that pool, the Netherlands, were also to reach the final in Pontedera last May.