Croatia gain consolation win

Croatia finished their UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifying campaign with a victory against the Netherlands, but nevertheless finished bottom of Elite round Group 2.

German perfection
Having lost their first two games in the section, Ivan Grnja's side knew that their hopes of progressing to this summer's final tournament in Northern Ireland had gone, although the Dutch still had an outside chance of qualifying. In the event, however, Germany's third successive win, against the Czech Republic in today's other game in the section, would have rendered a Dutch victory irrelevant in any case.

Mandzukic double
Croatia settled the quicker at the Kyjov stadium and took the lead after just nine minutes as midfield player Marijo Mandzukic opened the scoring. Needing to score at least twice, Dutch hopes suffered another setback three minutes past the hour as defender Joey van der Berg was sent off for a second bookable offence, and Mandzukic wrapped up the win seven minutes later.

Points parity
Croatia therefore finished with three points, as did the Czech Republic and the Netherlands, with the Czechs second, the Dutch third and Croatia fourth.