Mathie relishing tough group

The openind day of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship Group 7 mini-tournament on Saturday sees a clash between Belgium and Scotland - arguably the two most impressive qualifiers from round one.

'Great danger'
With only the group winners qualifying for the finals, the pressure is on from the beginning. However, as Scotland coach Ross Mathie told uefa.com, fellow Group 7 combatants Belarus and Northern Ireland should not be underestimated. "There's a great danger we forget there are two other teams in the group," he said.

Good preparations
The Scots breezed through round one with three wins, scoring 12 goals and conceding none, and will need to use the confidence from that run to make a good start. "In tournament play it's always important you take something from your first game," Mathie said.

'Good side'
"Belgium are a good side, very talented, very well-organised, but on our day we're capable of beating anyone," he added. "Our preparations have been going very well." Four of the Scottish squad have appeared in senior Premier League games in the last two months - a measure of how well the side has been faring. "Maybe the international experience has given them that extra confidence," Mathie noted.

'Best generation in years'
The Belgians are an impressive outfit too though, having swaggered through Group 6 with a 100 per cent record. They even out-scored the Scots with 13 goals, although their defence did leak two. "This is the best generation I have seen in years," said youth deputy Marc van Geersom of the Belgian Football Association (URBSFA).

'We can go far'
"We can go very far," he continued. "In attack we have some future stars in [Kevin) Mirallas, [Jonathan] Lagear and [Jordan] Remacle. Then of course there is [Anthony] Vanden Borre of [RSC] Anderlecht. This is the first big test for these guys." Defender Vanden Borre has already made two appearances for RSC Anderlecht and will be a crucial figure, although the participation of forward Lagear is in doubt due to an ankle injury.

Not to be discounted
The other two countries in the group, Northern Ireland and Belarus begin their campaigns by meeting in Verviers on Saturday. Both countries showed in round one that they are forces to be reckoned with and know that an opening win would put them in an excellent position to spring an upset. The Northern Irish reached this stage by edging out Croatia on goals scored in Group 2 but their team spirit is formidable.

Northern Irish spirit
In the first round they trailed 2-0 against the Croatians with five minutes left but fought back to draw 2-2. Then, after a 4-2 reverse against Finland, they won 2-1 against Malta courtesy of a winner three minutes from time. A recent friendly record of played two, won one against the Czech Republic confirms their potential.

Twenty friendlies
As for Belarus, they did extremely well to qualify from Group 9 ahead of youth football specialists Republic of Ireland and Switzerland. They are taking the tournament extremely seriously and have played around 20 friendlies over the past two months.

'No weak teams'
"We have been mproving our tackling in defence and midfield," said coach Yury Pyshnik. "A lot of work has been done to raise the players' physical condition, their psychology and technical skills. However I am worried because we lack pacy forwards. As for our opponents, there aren’t any weak teams at this stage. We'll fight hard."

Extra reason
Since the change in this competition's status from an U16 to an U17 event in 2001/02 none of these four countries have reached a final tournament so whoever qualifies will have extra reason to celebrate.

2003/04 UEFA European Under-17 Championship second round mini-tournament groups and dates: