Last Eight For UEFA U-19 European Championships Finalised

Spain, last year's runners-up, and Turkey have won through their UEFA Elite Phase Groups to complete the in last eight in the UEFA U-19 European Championships.

They will join hosts Romania, Serbia, Belgium, Greece, Czech Republic and Ireland when the competition begins in earnest next July.

With so many teams and matches to be played, UEFA had decided to split qualification for the U19 Championships into two distinct group phases, the second of which was run as a mini-competition over three games across seven groups of four teams.

Serbia became the first team to qualify, after the host nation, when they strolled through Group 6 of the Elite Phase despite losing their opening fixture to Wales. A hat-trick from Lokomotiv Plovdiv's Nenad Lukic—the young midfielder scored six goals in just five games—in the decisive game against Norway was the highlight of their qualification.

The Czech Republic qualified in dramatic fashion despite going unbeaten in their group, as with eight minutes to go in their final game against Israel they were in second place behind Russia. However, a late goal from Martin Sladky was enough to put them up 2-1 on Israel, thus allowing them to leap-frog the 2018 World Cup hosts.

One of the biggest shocks in qualification came when Greece knocked out the reigning Champions France with one game to spare. The Ethniki will head to Romania unbeaten and will provide a stern test for whomever they are drawn against.

In the first game of Group 1, Belgium beat Portugal while Croatia beat Estonia, so game two was always going to be a winner takes all issue. A late strike from Thorgen Hazard was enough to beat the Croats 3-2; Marin Mic had just equalised the game in the 86th minute before Hazard fired home in the 89th to take all three points and guarantee qualification for Romania in 2011.

Elsewhere, Spain qualified on goal difference over England with a 1-1 draw in the final game of the group, while Turkey accounted for Germany with a superb 1-0 victory. The young Turks were trailing Christian Ziege's team on goal difference heading into the last game, so anything less than a win would have seen Germany qualify.

The two teams were only separated by a superb performance from captain Muhammet Demir, who scored a 22nd minute free kick from just outside the area.

With the most powerful nations crashing out unexpectedly, Italy entered the final game of their qualification needing only to draw with Ireland. However, Paul Doolin's team had not read the script and, needing a win, tore into their opponents from the off and recorded an astounding 3-0 win to qualify for the finals for the first time in nine years.

2010/11 UEFA European Championship elite round

Qualifiers in bold

Group 1: Belgium, Portugal, Croatia*, Estonia

Group 2: Spain, England, Switzerland*, Montenegro

Group 3: Greece, France, Slovakia*, Belarus

Group 4: Republic of Ireland, Italy, Ukraine, Poland*

Group 5: Czech Republic*, Russia, Netherlands, Israel

Group 6: Serbia, Wales, Norway*, Moldova

Group 7: Turkey*, Germany, Macedonia, Hungary

*Hosts

The draw for the finals, which begin on 20 July and culminate on 1 August, takes place at the headquarters of the Romanian Football Federation on Wednesday June 8.

This article was previously published on Premier League Report.

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