France aim to topple holders

Turkey's bid to retain the UEFA European Under-17 Championship continues in the Elite round from Wednesday - and they face the nation their class of 2005 deposed as holders at this stage last season, France.

Coach concerned
Denmark and the Czech Republic will also take part in the mini-tournament in Antalya. As last year's Turkish generation were reaching the FIFA U-17 World Championship semi-finals in Peru, the current squad were cruising through the 2005/06 European qualifying round, defeating Romania 1-0, F.Y.R. Macedonia 4-1 and Croatia 1-0. But coach Fatih Eser believes his team will find things much tougher this time.

France 'better'
"France have a wonderful generation who, I believe, are able to resurrect the spirit of the sides that won EURO '84 and the [1998] FIFA World Cup," he said. "I have recently watched them, and we have to accept they are better than us. This doesn't mean we think of ourselves as underdogs. In my opinion, the team who qualifies from this group will win the finals in Luxembourg."

Collective spirit
After a 1-0 warm-up loss to England, Turkey played two friendlies against Belgium in January and secured 1-0 and 4-0 victories. Last month, they played two games against Russia, drawing 1-1 and winning 1-0. Eser has used 29 players since qualifying, and says his side's strength comes from collective spirit rather than individual stars.

Algarve triumph
They start against Denmark, before meeting the Czechs and ending against France, whose coach Luc Rabat has marked out this tournament as their priority. As seeds, France were excused the qualifying round, but competed in an event staged by final-round hosts Luxembourg. There they drew 2-2 against both England and an impressive home team. In December, France beat the Netherlands 1-0, and in February continued that form as they lifted the Algarve Cup, overcoming the Republic of Ireland 1-0, drawing 1-1 against the Dutch, and defeating hosts Portugal 3-1 to take the trophy.

Attacking talent
"It was a friendly tournament but good preparation, especially because we won against the home team in front of a hostile crowd," Rabat said. "That will also be the case in Antalya. I saw some very pleasing things during the tournament." His squad is unchanged for the Elite round, with striker Jérémy Pied out injured. But there is still plenty of attacking talent in Dominique Malongo, Moussa Sissoko, Gabriel Obertan and David N'Gog.

Danish victories
Denmark are also confident of making a good impression. They began the season winning the Nordic Championship in Iceland, ousting Sweden 2-0 in the final, and had two good winter results in La Manga, holding England 1-1 then beating them 2-1. In the qualifying round, they topped their group, drawing with Belarus and the Netherlands and defeating Slovenia.

Laudrup junior
"We have to be happy with the level the team have reached at such an early stage of the year," said Denmark coach Hans Brun Larsen. "I am particularly pleased with our passing, which is a very high standard." The man to watch is midfielder and captain Mads Thunø Laudrup, son of Denmark legend Michael and a huge talent. Mads Haarslev Thomsen is the leading goal-getter.

New Koller
The Czech Republic opened their qualifying-round account by losing 3-1 to Sweden, but then beat Andorra 5-0 and Iceland 4-1. They subsequently performed well at the La Manga tournament, defeating Finland 1-0 and drawing 1-1 with Norway and Belgium. Tall forward Tomáš Pekhart, compared to Jan Koller, is the man to watch having this month earned a transfer from SK Slavia Praha to Tottenham Hotspur FC. His striking partner, Jan Vošahlík, is also gifted, and has already made his senior debut for FK Marila Příbram. However, coach Jakub Dova said: "We rely on team work not individuals. France are favourites and our first game against them will be crucial."

Additional reporting by Christian Châtelet, Peter Bruun and Ladislav Josef