Rooney fires England into last four

Wayne Rooney's seventh-minute strike gave England a 1-0 victory over Yugoslavia in their UEFA European Under-17 Championship quarter-final today.

Hard-fought victory
England's hard-fought win sees them through to the semi-finals for the second successive year and they will be hoping to go one better this time, having lost out to France at the same stage last time.

Rooney on target
Both sides battled hard in the opening stages but it was England who grabbed the upper hand. Dusan Mihajlovic sent his 25-metre effort just wide in the sixth minute, before Rooney struck a minute later to give his side the lead. Stacy Long sent in a teasing cross from the left and Rooney rose high to glance a header past a helpless Igor Baletic and into the far corner.

Purovic goes close
Mark Smyth then went close to adding to England's advantage but was just unable to connect with Wayne Routledge's cross. Yugoslavia also had their chances in the opening half, as Milan Purovic headed narrowly wide from a Simon Vukcevic corner and Tomislav Pajovic shot over from 12 metres. Rooney then missed a glorious chance to score his second, as he screwed the ball wide from ten metres after Lee Croft's centre was touched on by Smyth.

Penalty appeals
A thrilling second half saw both side battle hard but neither attack could force another breakthrough. Dusko Tosic sent a 30-metre free-kick just off target, before the referee waved away Yugoslavian penalty appeals when Purovic fell under the challenge of Chris Hogg on the hour mark. Routledge then hit the angle of post and crossbar with a curling right-foot shot, while Rooney's neat footwork on the by-line was somewhat spoilt when he flashed a shot over from an acute angle.

Mounting pressure
England were forced to defend their advantage but were happy to soak up the mounting pressure and hit their opponents on the counterattack. Rooney, impressive throughout the match, sent Smyth clear twice in the space of a minute but Baletic blocked both efforts superbly, and England were nearly made to pay for their missed opportunities. Yugoslavia piled bodies forward in search of an equaliser and were unfortunate not level in injury time. Purovic's powerful burst into the box was eventually cleared and substitute Igor Burzanovic was only denied by Steven Drench's magnificent near-post save.

'Clean sheet'
England held on to secure their progress and coach Dick Bate was thrilled with the result. "I am delighted," he said. "It was a hard battle but in the end we could have won by a bigger margin. We were forced to defend but we held them at arms' length and kept a clean sheet against a very tough side. England are quite a young team but we worked very hard throughout the side and created chances."

'Not our day'
Bate's opposite number, Momcilo Vujacic, was clearly disappointed after the match but was in philosophical mood. "That is football," he said. "We played very well today but we did not get the result. The early goal was a problem for us and England are a very good team. This has been a good tournament and has given our players some great experience. We have played well in the competition but today was not our day."