Education at the highest level

While Germany, Russia, Spain and the Czech Republic are looking forward to Thursday's UEFA European Under-17 Championship semi-finals, the rest of the contenders are travelling home.

Adventure ends
It is, of course, not far to go for hosts Luxembourg, who were better than their record of three defeats suggests, while for the teams that came through qualifying an adventure which started as long ago as September is now over. But Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro, and Belgium all made their mark. Of these, the only side to win a game were Hungary, and they are probably the most unfortunate to depart. Indeed, Juan Santisteban, coach of Group A winners Spain, said they were the toughest opposition his team have faced. Their exit was really down to Matchday 1, when they missed several chances against Russia before falling to a late goal. Hungary then beat Luxembourg 4-0, with Krisztián Németh adding two goals to the nine he claimed in qualifying, but Spain proved a step too far in a 2-0 reverse.

Hungarian talent
What Hungary do boast, though, are some top-class talents, notably striker Németh and the two men immediately behind him, Ádám Dudás and UC Sampdoria's Vladimir Koman. Coach József Both said: "Our team is close to the top European standard and we have individuals who are at that standard. I hope all future Hungarian youth teams can achieve the success of this one. Dudás has a chance of playing for a top European team in the future. We can see progress which gives us hope for the future." The squad will have a swansong at this level in a forthcoming six-nation tournament in Japan.

Key absentees
The other third-place side, Serbia and Montenegro in Group B, also paid for an opening-day loss, as having been on top in the first half they succumbed 2-1 to the Czechs. Despite again having the better of much of the play they needed a last-gasp equaliser to hold Belgium, but were blown away by Germany. The absence of two first-choice defenders did not help either. Ivan Tatomirović was injured while Chelsea FC target Slobodan Rajković stayed with OFK Beograd for this week's Serbo-Montenegrin Cup final.

Quality not shown
This team is one of several recent Serbo-Montenegrin youth squads to achieve impressive results, but coach Sasa Medin felt they did not do themselves justice. "We have more quality than we showed, because in the qualifying tournaments we played much better," he said. "And we missed our two best players - they were at home, and if they had played the whole team would have been better, plus we had Sasa Blagojević and Igor Miladinović suspended for the first game. It was a success to qualify, it is good for our FA, and now our players have experience. Our best player is Stefan Jovetić, but while he ran hard and fought hard, he can play much better."

Belgian frustration
Belgium, also defeated by Germany and the Czechs, found the finals too much of a step up. Coach Eric Abrams said: "I am a little bit frustrated about this tournament. First we didn't play at our normal level against Germany [in the players' first televised match]. We should have won against Serbia and Montenegro too. But this group was the best group, with four good teams. It was an excellent experience for the players that they cannot have at their clubs." Still, Maurizio Aquino, who gave them the lead against Serbia and Montenegro, could have another chance - he was born in 1990 and will be eligible when Belgium host this competition next May.