Turkey show their strength

Turkey made a solid start in their bid to become the first nation to follow a UEFA European Under-17 Championship success with an U19 victory two years later as they moved through from qualifying round Group 10 in Luxembourg with section winners the Czech Republic.

Blažek hat-trick
The Czechs were beaten in the 2005/06 U17 final - also in the Grand Duchy - on penalties by Russia, and also reached the U19 semis last season, and made a fine start to this campaign with a 5-0 defeat of Wales. Jan Blažek, one of two players from last season’s U19 squad to remain for this term with three men promoted from the successful U17s, was the star as he claimed a hat-trick with goals on 29. 45 and 49 minutes before substitute Borek Dockal and Radim Necas swiftly added to the scoreline.

Turkey in form
Over in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg, also containing players from May’s U17 finals, took a seventh-minute lead against Turkey through Chris Sagrahola. However, Caner Erkin - one of five 2005 U17 gold-medallists in Turkey’s starting lineup - equalised on 27 minutes and soon after Luxembourg’s Andy Reuter was sent off. In the first four minutes of the second half Aydın Yılmaz and Tevfik Köşe extended gave Turkey the advantage and the latter, the top scorer in the 2005 U17 finals, secured a 4-1 win near the end.

Hosts hold Czechs
That scoreline was repeated when Turkey faced Wales in Mondercange. Ferhat Kiraz and Aydin Yilmaz struck in the first ten minutes and Köşe found the target before the half-hour mark. Marc Williams pulled one back in the 40th-minute but Özgürcan Özcan removed all doubt about the result midway through the second half. Turkey's Elite round place was secured later that evening as Luxembourg drew 1-1 with the Czech Republic. Luxembourg, whose U17 team was knocked out this season by Turkey and the Czech Republic, fell behind on 42 minutes to Blažek but equalised six minutes after the break through Christophe Scholer. Blažek was dismissed three minutes from time. That result was good news for Iceland, as it confirmed that the Group 6 side were now through as the best third-placed team from across the 12 pools.

Czechs comfortable
Without the suspended Blažek and Ondřej Mazuch, the Czech Republic now needed a point against already-qualified Turkey in Esch-sur-Alzette to book their place in the Elite round draw on 5 December, and did even better with a 2-0 victory thanks to two early goals from Tomáš Necid. Luxembourg secured third place with a 1-0 win against already eliminated Wales in Mondercange but the Czech success had dashed their hopes of progress.