Undefeated duo make smooth progress

Croatia and Bulgaria made smooth progress to the Elite round of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship as both remained unbeaten to claim the top two berths in qualifying round Group 11.

Goal-difference superiority
The top two each finished with seven points at the mini-tournament in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia claiming first place by virtue of their superior goal difference. Iceland took third position with a dramatic final-day victory against the hosts, who therefore ended bottom of the section having lost all three games and failed to score.

Impressive start
The eventual group winners started the section in style at the SRC Slavija stadium in Sarajevo on Matchday 1, brushing aside the hosts with an emphatic 5-0 victory. The game was effectively settled by the time 30 minutes had been played, Igor Prahic opening the scoring in the eleventh minute before Nikola Kalinic and Anas Sharbini increased the lead by the 28th minute. Sharbini made it 4-0 from the penalty spot five minutes before half-time, with Kalinic wrapping up the win a minute past the hour.

Penalty winner
The other Matchday 1 fixture, at the Koševo stadium, proved to be a much tighter affair. Bulgaria were reduced to ten men as early as the 20th minute as Teodor Banev was sent off for a second bookable offence, but the numbers were evened up again seven minutes into the second half as Iceland's Haukur Pall Sigurdsson was shown a red card. To make matters worse for Gudni Kjartansson's team, Nikolay Dimitrov converted the resulting penalty to give Bulgaria victory.

Croatian celebrations
Iceland also had cause to rue their luck in the second round of matches, when they came up against Croatia at the SRC Slavija stadium. Bjarni Thor Vidarsson gave Iceland a first-half lead, but two goals in nine minutes early in the second period, from Kalinic and Krešimir Makarin, turned the match in Croatia's favour. However, Arnor Smarason's 87th-minute equaliser seemed to have earned Iceland a point, only for Kalinic to strike again two minutes into added time.

Second success
The game between Bulgaria and Bosnia-Herzegovina was not settled until the final 30 minutes. Orlin Starokin eventually made the breakthrough for Nedelcho Matushev's side on the hour, and Bosnian hopes were effectively ended by the dismissal of Daniel Savic for a second yellow card 12 minutes later. Luchezar Baltanov's goal four minutes from time sealed Bulgaria's win.

Croatian resilience
The results in the first two rounds of matches confirmed Croatia and Bulgaria as the automatic qualifiers from the section, and the two teams met at Sarajevo's Koševo stadium to decide who would finish first, with Croatia needing only a draw. Ivan Grnja's side duly accomplished their aim despite Prahic's red card in the last minute.

Late clinchers
There were two dismissals in the game between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iceland, with Bosnian midfield player Semir Stelic and his Icelandic counterpart Ari Freyr Skulason seeing red in the 52nd and 73rd minutes respectively. In the event, it was the Icelanders who better exploited the extra space, Theodor Bjarnason striking in the 86th minute and Arnor Smarason adding a second two minutes later to ensure they finished their campaign on a positive note. However, they cannot qualify as the best third-placed team from across the 12 groups.