Dutch out on goal difference

A 3-1 victory was not enough for the unbeaten Netherlands to qualify for the UEFA European Under-17 Championship, as Germany's 4-0 win against Finland ensured they topped Elite round Group 1 on goal difference.

Goalless first half
Netherlands coach Ruud Kaiser, whose team were two goals behind Germany at kick-off, surprisingly left forwards Ferdi Sönmez and Romario Sabajo out of the starting lineup in favour of Jordi Schell and Rence van de Wal. However, despite dominating the first half, the Netherlands could not score, Vincent van den Berg forcing a save and both Vurnon Anita and Nick Kuiper going close.

Victory not enough
Two minutes into the second half Kuiper headed in a cross from Christian Supusepa, and in the 55th minute, after Kuiper had stopped a Northern Irish shot on the goalline, the host nation broke and Anita sent through Van den Berg to score. Five minutes later Van de Wal breached the Northern Ireland defence, but Germany were also 3-0 up at this point, and the only remaining goal in this game was Andrew Little's consolation.

'We can be proud'
Kaiser, whose team had pipped Germany to the finals last season and finished runners-up in Italy, said: "Nil-nil at half-time was a ridiculous scoreline given the chances we had in the first half. We can be proud as we managed to get seven points. Last season Germany were knocked out - now we are."