Spain progress checked by Russia

The qualification berth in UEFA European Under-17 Championship second round Group 1 was left wide open after Spain and Russia drew 1-1 at the Estadio Nuevo Mirador in Algeciras.

Piqué on target
Igor Chugainov's men proved to be much sterner rivals that the Czech Republic, who Spain beat 4-0 at the weekend, keeping the home side in check with some solid defending. However, the Spaniards made the most of their greater possession and opened the scoring on 18 minutes when Pepe Plá supplied a superb pass to Gerard Piqué to fire past Mikhail Kerzhakov.

Injury trouble
Russia were dealt a body blow when they lost both Alexander Cherevko and Victor Stroev to injury within the space of a minute. Coach Chugainov, obliged to reshuffle his side, brought on Oleg Kozhanov and Vladimir Ponomarev to replace the injured duo.

Russia respond
Spain were caught out in stoppage time of the first half, Evgueni Gavriuk beating Antonio Adán to equalise and leave the Spaniards in a state of bewilderment. A half-time pep talk from Juan Santisteban and the addition of Real Madrid CF midfielder Javi García seemed to fire Spain up while Russia were content to sit back and soak up the pressure.

Vital point
Spain enjoyed a series of chances, hitting the bar midway through the half, but their efforts were too often squandered and the visitors held out for a vital point.

Tense finale
With only the group winners reaching the eight-team final tourament, both countries still have a chance to qualify. They are level on four points going into the final set of games, but Spain have a slight advantage having accumulated more goals.

'One of those days'
Spanish goalscorer Piqué said after the match: "I don't know whether we were just tired or what happened but we did not perform at the same level as we did against the Czech Republic. Sometimes things just do not go your way and today was one of those days."

'Spain favourites'
Russia coach Chugainov added: "Neither side proved capable of winning this game. Spain attacked more than us but we also had our chances. Spain are still favourites to qualify but we will be going flat out to beat the Czech Republic by the biggest margin possible."

Climax to the group
Spain meet Hungary on Wednesday while Russia must get past the Czechs, who also still have an outside chance of qualifying. Both matches kick off at 17.00CET.