Germany grind out narrow Czech win

Lewis Holtby scored the only goal as UEFA European Under-19 Championship holders Germany defeated the Czech Republic to continue their perfect start to Elite round Group 7.

Five-goal wins
The Czech Republic showed few ill effects after losing 5-1 to Spain in their opening match of the section on Thursday, forcing Germany No1 Oliver Baumann into action early on. Germany also hit five in their defeat of mini-tournament hosts Estonia but they were finding Aleš Křeček's team a far tougher proposition to break down and were afforded precious little space by their hard-working opponents. Their resistance was broken after 33 minutes, however, as Holtby scored his second goal of the Elite round.

'Controlled' performance
Richard Sukuta-Pasu then tested Václav Hladký after the break, but Germany were unable to make their pressure count further, leaving coach Heiko Herrlich a little concerned ahead of their group decider against Spain − 3-0 winners against Estonia in the other match − on Tuesday. "Although we found it difficult in the first 20 minutes, I think we controlled the game," he said. "We should have scored more. Hopefully against Spain we will be more successful." Herrlich's opposite number, Křeček added: "I'm disappointed with the result, though we played better than in our first match."