Croatia clinch second place
Friday, April 23, 2004
Article summary
Croatia 3-1 Romania A win in their final Group 5 game is not enough to earn Croatian qualification.
Article body
Croatia ended their UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifying campaign with a 3-1 victory against Romania, but it was not enough to earn qualification from Group 5.
Second place
Mini-tournament hosts Turkey finished top of the section with seven points from their three games, with Ivan Grnja's Croatia side a point behind in second place. Romania finished bottom of the final table, having lost all three games.
Early shock
Romania actually took the lead at the Söke City stadium, striker Banel Nicolita opening the scoring in the 16th minute. However, Croatia struck back nine minutes before half-time, forward Enes Novinic finishing off a well-worked move to equalise.
Two for Novinic
The same player turned the match in Croatia's favour with his second goal three minutes past the hour, and Ivan Sertic wrapped up the win with a third goal in the closing minutes of the match.