Injuries trouble talented Turkey

Turkey are in fine form as they welcome the Netherlands, Wales and Belarus for UEFA European Under-17 Championship Elite round Goup 4 but their bid to reach Belgium could be hampered by injury problems.

Turkish form
The mini-tournament starting today is being staged at Antalya's World Wonder Football Centre, the venue for next season's U17 finals. Turkey's form this year has suggested they could make it this time around too. The 2005 winners opened qualifying with a 4-1 defeat of Slovenia, and although they were held 1-1 by 2006 hosts Luxembourg, a hat-trick from Hamburger SV striker Tunay Torun gave ten-man Turkey a 3-1 win against the Czech Republic and top spot in Group 2.

Goalscoring feat
In January they twice beat Belgium 2-0 and repeated that score the next month against Ukraine before overcoming Slovakia 4-0 and 4-1. Tunay forms a prolific partnership with Beşiktaş JK's Batuhan Karadeniz, who at 15 is already 1.92m tall, scored 84 goals in 24 youth games last season, and has had a trial with Manchester City FC.

Injury concerns
Coach Turhan Mesci identifies Barış Memiş, Furkan Özca, Umut Sözen and Taner Taktak as key men but bemoans: "Three of our first eleven are sidelined for the Elite round; Sercan Yıldırım has a cruciate ligament injury while Serkan Kurtuluş has a fractured foot. Even worse, Galatasaray [SK] defender Semih Kaya recently had brain surgery." As for their opponents, Mesci muses: "Belarus are a good defensive team who are especially dangerous on the counterattack. Wales play typical British football. Finally [the Netherlands] might not be getting their desired results but have quality players."

Dutch victories
The Netherlands were beaten by Turkey in the 2005 final, and this season sailed through the qualifying round, 5-1 victories against Estonia and Croatia sandwiching a 1-0 win against Norway. On 7 March they returned to action against Northern Ireland in Rijssen and prevailed thanks to a goal from PSV Eindhoven attacker Genero Zeefuik. Coach Albert Stuivenberg said: "It was a well-deserved victory and this performance gives us hope for Turkey." A familiar name in the lineup is midfielder Daley Blind, son of former international Danny Blind.

'No clear favourites'
Belarus may have qualified in 2005, but they only just made it past the first stage this term, pipping Kazakhstan on goal difference having drawn 1-1 in the opening game and then beaten San Marino 6-0 and lost 4-1 to Ukraine. In January Belarus won an international tournament in Minsk, overcoming Ukraine on penalties in the final having defeated Lithuania and Azerbaijan and held Slovenia in their group. Aleksei Mazanik scored four goals and was named the best midfielder of the tournament while Vitali Rushnitski was best striker. Belarus held a training camp in Turkey in February, and coach Andrei Zygmantovich said: "To my mind there are no clear favourites in the group. Maybe Turkey have some home advantage."

Welsh win
Wales have never qualified at this level but luck may be on their side after they came through as the best third-placed team in the opening stage, recovering from losing 2-0 to Bosnia-Herzegovina to defeat Moldova 2-0 and Slovakia 2-1. A 2-1 win against Denmark was useful preparation in February, captain Joe Allen and forward Sam Wade scoring the goals for Brian Flynn's team, though a second fixture was rained off. Flynn told uefa.com: "The U17s this year are a good team, two good midfield players but like every other country, you're reliant on scoring goals and we are short in that department in terms of top quality."

Additional reporting by Berend Scholten & Denis Orlov