Portugal welcome holders for showdown

Perhaps the most fascinating fixture of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship Elite round comes on the opening day as Group 6 kicks off with Portugal taking on holders Russia.

Portugal meet holders
Group hosts Portugal took the title in 2003 but have missed out on the last two final tournaments having previously qualified for seven straight U17 and U16 events. In all they have won the junior UEFA title five times, and are keen to return to the big stage as they take on Russia, Iceland and Northern Ireland. However, at the prestigious Algarve Tournament in February the hosts lost 1-0 to England, drew 1-1 with Germany and were defeated 2-1 by France to finish bottom.

Upbeat
Coach Carlos Dinis said: "We didn't win the tournament, which was one of our objectives, but we had the chance to face strong opponents and were very unlucky to lose against England and France. We'll now approach the Elite round with more tranquility because we know just how good we are." Perhaps the star man is Arsenal FC striker Rui Fonte, who has already made his club reserves debut. Sporting Clube de Portugal forward Wilson Eduardo is also a threat, while captain Diogo Amado is the key midfielder.

Russian success
The victory in Luxembourg last May was Russia's first since Soviet times and 34-year-old coach Andrey Talalaev is the man charged with emulating the success of Igor Kolyvanov, who has continued with his successful players at the higher age group. While Portugal were excused the qualifying round as seeds, Russia defeated Georgia 3-1 and F.Y.R. Macedonia 6-2 before losing 3-1 against Germany. They have been preparing in Spain, and on Thursday lost 1-0 to Real Madrid CF's U17 side, the winner scored by Russian striker Denis Cheryshev, who missed out on national team selection. Midfielders Maxim Grigorev, Nikita Antonov and Alan Dzagoev and defender Ruslan Perepelyukov are the backbone of the team.

Defensive concerns
"I am happy with the form of all the boys," said Talalaev, who took over this squad as U16s in 2005. "I am glad that almost all of them have had some competitive football for their club reserves. The only thing that bothers me is a number of injuries in defence. Yuri Vorobiev, Fedor Pronkov and Viacheslav Dmitriev are out. Taras Burlak, Ruslan Perepelyukov and Alan Dzagoev have minor problems." Another defender, Alexander Kozhevnikov, was injured against Madrid.

Cosmopolitan Iceland
Iceland have a number of foreign-based players including Viktor Illugason at Reading FC and SC Heerenveen's Björn Jónsson. They have been preparing by meeting local top-flight teams, and produced some impressive results. Coach Lúkas Kostic, whose 2006 squad included players subsequently signed by Celtic FC, Charlton Athletic FC and Everton FC, said: "The boys are very much looking forward to it and ready. Although our main aim is to learn in order to prepare future players, I like them to develop and grow with this experience."

Northern Irish task
While Iceland are yet to qualify at U17 level, Northern Ireland reached the 2004 finals. Kenny Shiels was manager then as now, and since defeating Cyprus, Faroe Islands and Switzerland in Belfast in the qualifying round, his team have drawn and lost to Scotland in friendlies and last week were narrowly defeated 1-0 by the Netherlands. Shiels believes he has created "a real family atmosphere" in the squad, but warns: "Russia are the current holders of the trophy and Portugal are one of three seeded teams who didn't even have to qualify, so that just shows the enormity of the task."

Additional reporting by Stefán Stefánsson