Croatian victory in vain

Croatia bounced back from their opening-day defeat by mini-tournament hosts Turkey to get their Group 5 campaign back on track with a 2-0 victory against Russia, but saw their hopes of reaching this summer's finals end.

Hopes ended
With Turkey running out 4-0 winners against Romania, the victory in Söke was not enough for Ivan Grnja's side, who remained three points behind Turkey in the standings and are unable to overtake the hosts after Monday's 2-1 defeat at the hands of the hosts. Russia can still qualify after beating Romania 2-0 in their first game, but must defeat Turkey in their final qualifier on Friday to progress.

Perfect start
Croatia took control at the Söke stadium from the first whistle and were in front as early as the third minute, Zedi Ramadani volleying in to give Croatia the perfect start. Croatia continued to dominate, but Russia were handed a golden opportunity to equalise in the 24th minute as Ravil Sabitov's side won a penalty. Nikita Bazhenov's kick, however, was superbly saved by Croatian goalkeeper Adnan Hodzic.

Sertic strikes
The near miss galvanised Russia, who dominated the latter stages of the first half. They were unable to find an equaliser, however, and fell further behind with 20 minutes left to play. Ivan Sertic controlled a left-wing cross and volleyed into the corner of the net from 14 metres, giving Russian goalkeeper Vladimir Suleymanov no chance.

Hodzic again
Russia strove valiantly for a way back into the game, but when Hodzic produced another spectacular stop to keep out a shot from substitute Ivan Sapin, their last chance had gone.

Improved display
"Against Turkey we made too many individual mistakes and were unlucky on several occasions," said Grnja. "I had to make changes to my team, which proved to be the right decision. Today my team was unrecognisable from the first match. I just regret that our three best players were injured for this tournament, [as we could have] provided an even better image of Croatian youth football. We are a small country and we work with what we have."