Italy and Serbia through with Wales

Italy and Serbia grabbed the two Elite round berths on offer in the last UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualifying round group - and their wins against Andorra and Malta were good news for Wales.

Trio through
Before Group 4 started, Wales were the third-placed team from the eleven pools already completed with the best record against the top two in their mini-tournament. And after Italy and Serbia had each overcome both Andorra and the Maltese hosts on Friday and Sunday, Wales knew that their place in the Elite round draw on 5 December, like that of Italy and Serbia, was secure.

Forestieri impresses
Serbia, who qualified for the 2006 finals in conjunction with Montenegro, took six minutes to take the lead against Malta on Matchday 1 in Hamrun through Milan Pršo. Although Chris Mackay, Sheldon Grech and Mark Scerri went close for Malta, Vujadin Savić secured the points for Serbia four minutes from time. At the same venue, Argentinian-born Genoa 1893 prospect Fernando Forestieri put Italy ahead 28 minutes in against Andorra. On the hour mark substitute Alberto Paloschi made it 2-0 and late on Forestieri and another replacement, Vincenzo Nitride, doubled the lead despite a valiant display for Andorra goalkeeper Oriol Oliva.

Qualification secure
On Matchday 2 the action moved to sunny Corradino but Andorra again suffered a 4-0 defeat, this time at the hands of Serbia. Igor Mišan struck on 20 minutes and added his second just after Pršo had found the target late in the first half, with Savić again claiming a late goal. Italy then ensured they, Serbia and Wales would progress as they also put four past Malta, starting with Paloschi's header in the 27th minute after the hosts had made a promising start. Federico Masi headed in just before the hour mark and Paloschi and Forestieri had time to take their mini-tournament goal tallies to three.

Italy top
There was still first place to play for today in Hamrun, and with Italy only needing a point against Serbia the 0-0 draw proved enough. Italy coach Luca Gotti told uefa.com: "We put up solid performances but not excellent in my view. Against Serbia we put up a very good performance in the first half, but then relaxed allowing our - very good - opponents to play. I must mention the Malta side, who in my view gave 110 per cent against us. Generally speaking I am happy with the qualification, which is always our number one priority." Serbia coach Sasha Nikolić added: "Despite finishing second in the group, I must say that I am very happy with our qualification. One must bear in mind that we have not conceded a goal in the whole tournament. Yes I wanted to win today but Italy were very strong."

Malta happy
Third position belonged to Malta after they won 1-0 against Andorra in Corradino with Miguel Ciantar scoring on the half-hour after being set up by Mark Scerri. Malta coach Oliver Spiteri said: "I feel very happy with the overall performance of my young side over these three matches. It was very important to get the three points against Andorra today, and we managed to do just that. My boys put up creditable performances against Serbia and in the first half against Italy, so all credit to them as well. Obviously there is a lot of work still to be done, but I am quite pleased with the way things are going."