France leave it late to join Scotland

French relief
Scotland, qualifiers for the first time in 2007/08, beat San Marino and Slovakia in their first two games to move through with a match to spare. France, runners-up in Turkey in May, had been held by Slovakia on Matchday 1 before defeating San Marino so needed a point against Scotland to go through and secured a dramatic 3-2 win with two late goals.

Hosts held
Ross Mathie's Scotland opened with a 3-0 win against San Marino, striking three times in the last three minutes of the first half through Ryan Jack, Gordon Dick and James Keatings. Mini-tournament hosts France went ahead after three minutes against Slovakia with a Mehdi Abeid strike but Michaé Svarka secured a 1-1 draw early in the second half.

Scotland through
France them matched Scotland's scoreline against San Marino, Idriss Saadi opening the scoring in the 33rd minute and made it three not long before the hour, seconds after Gaël Nlundulu had found the target. That meant Scotland's 3-1 victory against Slovakia was enough to take them through, Jack scoring on seven minutes and Dick quickly adding another before claiming the third after the break. Chelsea FC trainee Milan Lalković scored a late consolation. Mathie said: "This was a good a performance as any away from home by a young Scottish team for a number of years."

Slovakia denied
Slovakia knew they had to win and hope France lose against Scotland to pip Les Mini-Bleus to the Elite round. A 3-0 victory against San Marino courtesy of Peter Horvath, Lalković and substitute Anton Dano meant Slovakia had hope, as long as France were defeated by a two-goal margin. Indeed, with one minute left in the other match Scotland led France 2-1 – Dick's 36th-minute goal having been cancelled out by Arnaud Souquet but substitute Callum McRobbie converted a penalty just after the hour mark. Yet as time ran out, France replacement Yeni Ngbakoto equalised and deep in added time, Alexandre Coeff's winner ensured the hosts finished in first place.