Belarus and Portugal edge through

Portugal and hosts Belarus were the two countries to advance from UEFA European Under-19 Championship first qualifying round Group 7 after an absorbing mini-tournament.

Top on goal difference
The Belarussians took first place in the section on goal difference after both they and the Portuguese finished with five points from three games. The tournament began with a 0-0 draw between Belarus and Greece while the Portuguese overcame Wales 2-1. Daniel Parslow turned the ball into his own net to give Portugal the lead before Paulo Pestana added a second. Michael Parkins' 90th-minute penalty reduced the arrears.

Unexpected victory
On the second matchday the Welsh bounced back with an unexpected 2-1 victory against Greece. Wales fell behind in the 51st minute when Christos Tzevas struck before goals from David Edwards and Stuart Fleetwood turned the match on its head. Meanwhile Belarus drew again, this time 1-1 against Portugal. Pavel Plaskonny missed the chance to put Belarus ahead from the penalty spot but soon after Aleksei Dobrovolski was more clinical and put the hosts in front. However Adelino Freitas equalised after the break by latching on to a fine Riacrdo Costa pass and finishing well.

All to play for
Going in to the final set of matches all four teams in the group were still in with a chance of qualifying. However Wales' hopes were ended by a 3-0 defeat against Belarus, with the goals coming from Dzmitry Parkhachou, Aliaksei Skverniuk and Aliaksandr Bychanok. Meanwhile Greece drew 1-1 with Portugal, which was enough to send the Iberians through. Greece are definitely out as there is just one place in the second round on offer to the best third-ranked side in round one and their performances were not sufficient to overtake Bulgaria in that race.

'Not fully satisfied'
"We managed to take first place in a very strong group," said Belarus coach Viktor Sokol. "All of the teams deserved to proceed. However I'm not fully satisfied with our display, we have many things to work on."