Turkey motivated to make U17 mark

A confident Turkey side are aiming to qualify for the UEFA European Under-17 Championship as they prepare to stage Elite round Group 6 in Adana. Romania, Finland and Wales are all aiming to pip the home nation to the finals in Germany as uefa.com previews a section which begins on Thursday.

TURKEY
Turkey stopped just short of victory on home soil in Antalya last year, losing a semi-final on penalties. Striker Muhammet Demir featured in that run before scoring a a competition-leading six goals as Turkey won their qualifying group back in September, but misses the Elite round through injury. Abdullah Ercan's side also won a winter tournament in Israel, beating the hosts 3-1 and drawing 2-2 with Serbia and Belarus. They then drew with Norway, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands to finish second in La Manga. Coach Ercan said: "We tried a new system and set of players. Although we couldn't get a win, I was satisfied with the display in Spain. Our U17 generation is promising and we have high expectations for them. The Elite round is held in Adana and the finals of the competition in Germany – both motivating factors for our players as there will be big support behind them. We already know about Finland from previous encounters but Wales and Romania are a little unknown to us. Only group winners will qualify for the finals which makes it even more stressful than playing at the finals itself."

Qualifying round: Slovenia 4-3, Malta 2-0, Russia 3-3 (Group 12 winners)

Key players: Orhan Gülle (midfielder, Beşiktaş JK), Engin Bekdemir (midfielder, PSV Eindhoven), Hasan Ahmet Sarı (forward, Trabzonspor)

ROMANIA
Romania coach Lucian Burchel has largely kept faith with the squad that showed resilience in the qualifying round by recovering from a 3-0 loss to Denmark to win their next two games. Since then they have beaten Moldova 2-1 and 1-0 and held Spain 0-0 before going down 2-0 to the U17 holders. Burchel said: "It's a tough group for us, but also for all the other competitors. Turkey are the favourites, and not just because they are hosts, but it's obvious that we're travelling there to qualify. It would be a very important achievement for us and for Romanian youth football."

Qualifying round: Denmark 0-3, Lithuania 5-0, Israel 2-1 (Group 2 runners-up)

Key players: Ionut Vreme (goalkeeper, FC Sportul Studentesc), Mircea Dima (full back, Empoli FC), Cristian Pazon (midfielder, FC Steaua Bucureşti)

FINLAND
Finland look in useful shape having won all their qualifying round games and prepared this month with two games in Serbia, winning 2-1 and losing 1-0. Coach Lars Mosander said: "Turkey beat us in Ukraine 4-0 last summer, but we have taken big steps forward since then; the games against Serbia clearly showed that. Obviously all the teams in the Elite round are tough opponents, but we are looking forward to it and are ready to fight for a finals place." Mosander can call on the assistance of former international Antti Niemi as goalkeeping coach.

Qualifying round: Albania 4-0, F.Y.R. Macedonia 2-1, Belarus 2-1 (Group 10 winners)

Key players: Saku-Pekka Sahlgren (goalkeeper, KPS Kokkola), Samu Nieminen (defender, JJK Jyväskylä), Johannes Nordström (defender, IFK Mariehamn)

WALES
Wales go into their qualifiers in Turkey boosted by a successful training camp in Malta in which they beat the islanders 4-1 and 2-0. It left coach Brian Flynn, who is unable to take charge of the team because of commitments with the U21 squad, confident about this week's competitive fixtures. "I am very pleased with the progress this squad are making and I know that they will do their very best to gain qualification," he said. "But we also know this will be a difficult group to progress from as Turkey are always tough to beat on their own territory. We are overdue to qualify for a final touranment and I think we are getting closer."

Qualifying round: Faroe Islands 4-1, Kazakhstan 0-2, Portugal 2-4 (Group 4 runners-up)
 
Key players: Billy Bodin (midfielder, Swindon Town FC), Elliott Chamberlain (midfielder, Leicester City FC), Jonathan Williams (midfielder, Crystal Palace FC)

By Türker Tozar, Paul-Daniel Zaharia, Mikael Erävuori & Trevor Haylett