Portuguese prospects start to fade

Holders Portugal are on the brink of an early exit from the 2004 UEFA European Under-17 Championship having collected just one point from their first two Group B games.

Two-goal margin
Carlos Dinis's side opened with a goalless draw against Austria at the Stade Vallée du Cher in Tours before suffering a 3-1 defeat by England on the same ground. The holders now need to beat Ukraine by at least two goals in Avoine and hope that Austria lose to England in Blois to squeeze into the semi-finals.

Errors rued
Dinis said after the loss to England that his side had made too many mistakes in their first two games, and concedes that their fate is no longer in their own hands. "All we can do is our best," he said. "We will try to win our last match and then we will have to see what happens in the other game. The third [England] goal made things even worse from our point of view as it could count against us in the final standings."

Selection problems
Portugal also have injury worries, as Feliciano Assunção Condesso sat out the match against England and Bruno Moreira failed to complete the 80 minutes, giving Dinis a potential selection dilemma. In contrast to the stuttering Portuguese, England became the first team into the semi-finals after their victory on Thursday and winger Shane Paul leads the scoring charts on three goals after his double against Portugal.

Defensive discipline
Coach John Peacock predicts another close encounter against Austria – who defeated England 1-0 in last year's third/fourth-placed play-off – saying: "Austria are a very well-organised side, very disciplined in defence and have a good counterattacking strategy, so I think it should be a good game."

Point enough
A draw would be enough to see both sides through to the semi-finals and leave Peacock's team sitting pretty at the top of the table. The England coach acknowledged that clinching first place is now the top priority, adding: "We're through now so that's nice, it's just a question of hopefully topping the group."

Solid displays
Austria have produced two solid displays to date but coach Paul Gludovatz always refuses to look too far ahead, a philosophy that is shared by captain Daniel Gramann. "We are taking it step by step," said the defender, who scored both goals in a 2-1 win against Ukraine on Thursday.

Qualification aim
"First we have to play against England, then we see what happens in any potential semi-final. We knew it would be a difficult tournament but our first aim was to qualify from the group."

Last chance
Having lost both of their first two games, Ukraine cannot now qualify for the last four, but will be seeking to take something from the match against Portugal. Striker Oleksandr Gladkyy, who scored six times in qualifying, will be keen to register in the finals for the first time, while captain Roman Dorosh will be hoping to add to the impressive long-range goal he scored against Austria.