Coach praises mature Ukraine juniors

Korkishko winner
Having beaten Slovakia 2-0 and the Czech Republic 5-2, Ukraine met Italy yesterday needing only a draw to claim first place. The Italians, at home in the mini-tournament, had the backing of 1,300 fans in Maniago, but Ukraine kept their nerve and put the outcome beyond doubt when FC Dynamo Kyiv striker Dimytro Korkishko scored two minutes into added time to secure a 1-0 win, to go along with his hat-trick against the Czechs on Monday.

'Everyone deserves praise'
Kalitvintsev said: "We thought about victory in every match we played, although a draw against Italy would have been enough. All our coaches and players were aiming for the maximum result and that told eventually. Now that the task is complete, I can say the boys did very well. Everyone deserves praise. They were not put off by either their rivals' reputation or the crazy support of the 'tifosi'. We were more purposeful and everybody did their job perfectly."

Fine run
The Dynamo, RVUFK Kyiv, FC Shakhtar Donetsk, FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and FC Karpaty Lviv academies provide the bulk of the Ukraine squad, and they showed their class in the qualifying round, defeating Belarus 4-1, Kazakhstan 2-0 and San Marino 6-0 for the best record of any team in the first stage. It is the third time Ukraine have reached the U17 finals in six editions, and they also made the old U16 competition on four occasions - their best performance, finishing third on their debut in 1993/94 when they lost the semi-final to Denmark on penalties.

Saturday deciders
Six sides have now booked their place in the finals draw on Wednesday at 12.45CET in Brussels's Best Western Hotel: hosts Belgium, England, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands and Ukraine. The two final berths will be decided on Saturday. At home in Group 5, 2004 champions France require a draw against Hungary to clinch first place, while Group 7 hosts Spain will qualify with a point against Poland, who retain hopes along with Switzerland - who take on Sweden.