Czechs close in on finals place

The Czech Republic are within one point of reaching the UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament for the first time in three seasons after defeating nine-man Ukraine 3-0 in the second round of fixtures in Elite round Group 4.

Crucial period
Having overcome Switzerland on Matchday 1, the Czechs knew that victory against the mini-tournament hosts in Donetsk would go a long way towards clinching a place in this summer's finals in Poland. They initially struggled to break down the Ukrainians, who also won their first fixture on Wednesday, before two goals in three minutes shortly before half-time changed the complex of the match completely. First, Martin Fenin broke the deadlock from the penalty spot in the 40th minute, and two minutes later Marek Streštik connected with a right-wing cross to score from close range and put the Czechs 2-0 up.

Point required
Ukraine's lingering hopes of getting back into the match suffered another setback nine minutes into the second half when Pavlo Novitskiy was dismissed after picking up a second yellow card. When Mykhaylo Tsymbal was shown a straight red card 18 minutes from time for a late tackle, those ambitions disappeared for good and Kamil Vacek capitalised on more uncertainty in the Ukrainian defence to add a third five minutes from time. The result means that a single point against Switzerland on Sunday will take the Czechs through while Ukraine must defeat Denmark and hope the Czechs lose.