Turkey steeled for Spain showdown

Spain are the sole two-time UEFA European Under-17 Championship winners and have come through four of their six semi-finals at this level since 2002 – but Turkey are determined to stop them reaching a fifth decider when they meet in Vaduz on Thursday.

Ginés Meléndez's Spain sailed through Group A, beating fellow former champions France 2-1, Switzerland 4-0 and Portugal 2-0. Turkey, who themselves won the trophy in 2005, opened by defeating Greece 3-1 but a 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic and 2-1 loss to England meant they relied on other teams slipping up to end second in Group B.

Still, Turkey coach Abdullah Ercan believes his side have the right attitude to get the job done in the last four. "We have not played Spain," Ercan told UEFA.com. "We have watched them, we will know everything we need to know about them and will tell the players exactly what they have to do. They are really up for the semi-final, they really want to play it. We are happy about their motivation and ambition."

Ercan only took over the squad after last year's team played at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in the autumn and believes this crop could have been strengthened further had he had more time with them. "We were planning to make the semi-final and we made it, now we have to improve," he said. "It is important to get to the last four in Europe, but now we have to do better things. We are ready for that."

Meléndez was assistant to Juan Santisteban in Spain's most recent triumphs of 2007 and 2008, but six years ago was in charge of the U19 team that took the European title with a final defeat of Turkey. Like Ercan, the Spain coach has a full team to pick from, and said: "Turkey is a football country where they've made great progress in recent times. They've got a good team, they play good football and it should be a great semi-final between two well-matched teams."

Although Spain striker Paco has captured the headlines with his finals-leading four goals, strength in depth has been an important feature of Meléndez's squad and he believes his ability to rotate could now pay dividends. "I think we'll go into the game in good condition, even if we've had some tough matches against strong opponents [in a short space of time]," he said. "We've probably only got three players in the squad who've played every minute of every match, and in a tournament like this, that could be an important factor."