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Thorvaldsdóttir inspires Iceland

Berglind Björg Thorvaldsdóttir scored eight goals in three games to ensure Iceland won Group 4 but hosts Slovenia face a nervous wait to see if they can join them.

Iceland experienced few difficulties in booking a place in the UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship second qualifying round but Slovenia face a nervous wait to see if they can join them.

Thorvaldsdóttir strikes five
Slovenia were staging first qualifying round Group 4 but were denied victory on Matchday 1 when they were held 2-2 by Ukraine, the hosts twice leading but conceding equalisers to Olga Basanka and Karina Sorokina's last-minute penalty. Iceland, meanwhile, were running out 7-1 winners against Latvia. Berglind Björg Thorvaldsdóttir scored three in the first 31 minutes, by which stage Sigrún Inga Ólafsdóttir had also struck and Dagný Brynjarsdóttir made it 5-0 at the break. Thorvaldsdóttir added further goals in the last ten minutes.

Hosts beaten
There was another win for Iceland two days later as they defeated Slovenia 5-0. Andrea Ýr Gústavsdóttir struck on 20 minutes and Brynjarsdóttir made it two just before the hour. She then scored on 73 minutes and again within 60 seconds to finish off her treble and a minute later substitute Sara Atladóttir added another. Ukraine kept the pressure on with a 2-1 victory against Latvia and this time it was Basanska's turn to score a victorious last-minute goal after Yuliya Stets's 33rd-minute opener had been cancelled out after the break.

Iceland through
So that meant a defeat of Iceland today would have taken Ukraine through, but instead Thorvaldsdóttir scored in the 12th, 23rd and 61st minute to increase her mini-tournament tally to eight goals and seal first place with a 3-0 win. And to make matters worse for Ukraine, Slovenia overcame Latvia 3-0 to snatch second position on goals scored. However, only the six runners-up from the ten groups with the best record against the teams first and third in their pool will progress into December's draw, and Slovenia's one point versus Ukraine leaves them behind Norway and Belgium from the other two completed mini-tournaments. The next one to begin is Group 2 involving the Netherlands, Azerbaijan, Greece and hosts Poland on 8 October.

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