Group 9: Italy on the home straight

Tight contest
A 2-1 win against Finland on Tuesday put Claudio Gentile's side in the driving seat, but with Serbia and Monetenegro winning in Finland by the same margin last Friday and earning a 2-0 win in Azerbaijan on Tuesday, the race is tight.

No foregone conclusion
At the moment, Italy hold a five-point lead at the top of the table, but with both Italy and Serbia and Montenegro playing home games against Wales before meeting up in what could be a decisive fixture on 9 September, the result of the group is no foregone conclusion.

Nervous moments
Gentile's side had a few nervous moments in Finland, going behind to a first-half penalty before coming back to secure a win with another penalty from Andrea Gasbarroni and an excellent Alberto Gilardino strike.

Finnish respect
Finland coach Kari Ukkonen had no complaints. "Italy showed today why they are leading the group," he said. "They have a very strong and skilful team. We had our chances, but at this level you have to make better use of them. I think we deserved a draw, but I admit Italy had more chances to score."

'Great position'
Gentile, meanwhile, paid tribute to his weary players, saying: "We are at the end of a long season and honestly I could have not asked more to my players. We wanted to win this match, we managed and now we are in a great position to qualify."

Petrovic's potential
A great position, but not an unassailable one. Branimir Petrovic and Igor Matic's goals against Azerbaijan have kept the pressure on Italy, and while second place should be good enough to give Serbia and Montenegro a play-off place for the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final play-offs, Vladimir Petrovic's side could yet aim higher.

'Real quality'
"I congratulate my boys on the victory in which they showed real quality," said Petrovic. "Today we did not play pretty football, but we broke the resistance of a courageous opponent. In four days we have had two important away victories."

Welsh prospects
Further down the table, Wales will have a busy end to their campaign,with two games against Serbia and Montenegro and one against Italy to come. With six points from their four games, they are a point adrift of third-placed Finland, who have played six matches. However, wins in those three decisive games, starting with the back-to-back visits to Italy and Serbia and Montenegro in September, could yet see them win a play-off place.

Sad campaign
At the very foot of the table, Azerbaijan have lost all six of their games. They play at home against Finland and away against Italy in their final fixtures, hoping to score their first goal of the qualifiers.