UEFA Under-17 Championship: Netherlands win Group A — Disappointing defeat for Malta

UEFA-Under-17-Malta2014-logoNetherlands won Group A of the UEFA Under-17 Championship finals after defeating England 2-0 in a direct clash for the top spot at the Hibernians Stadium.

The team led by Marteen Stekelenburg will therefore meet the runners-up of Group B in the semi-finals while England will be facing the winners of Group B, Portugal.

Since both sides had already secured qualification to the next round, both sides opted to rest some players – England in particular.

Following a goalless first half, the Netherlands managed to break the deadlock thanks to a powerful drive by Calvin Verdonk, served by Kenneth Paal, which gave goalkeeper Samuel Howes no chance.

Substitute Danni van der Moot doubled the score on 68 minutes, one minute after replacing Segun Owobowale, heading the ball home off a cross by Bilal Ould-Chikh.

ENGLAND Samuel Howes, Jonjoe Kenny, Ryan Ledson, Joseph Gomez, Dael Fry, Demetri Mitchell (68′ Taylor Moore), Joshua Onomah, Isiaiah Brown, Mandela Egbo, Callum Cooke (59′ Patrick Roberts), Joshua Sims (47′ Adam Armstrong).

NETHERLANDS Yanick van Osch, Hidde ter Avest(74′ Rick van der Meer), Keziah Veendorp, Calvin Verdonk, Donny van de Beek, Jari Schuurman, Kenneth Paal, Segun Owobowale (67′ Dani van der Moot), Abdelhak Nouri, Mauro Savastano (67′ Marlon Slabbekoorn), Bilal Ould-Chikh.

Referee: Alexander Harkam (AUT)

Photos: Copyright © Paul Zammit Cutajar

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under-17-malta-turkey140515pzcAt the National Stadium, Turkey scored four second-half goals to beat Malta 4-0.

Coach Sergio Soldano could not field his best formation due to the absence of Christian Degabriele, Nick Ghio and Kyrian Nwoko.

The Maltese gave a good account of themselves during the first half going close to taking the lead through a Jake Grech freekick but Turkey also had their fair share of scoring opportunities with Malta goalkeeper Jamie Azzopardi performing a fine save on Sabit Yilmaz just before the break.

Turkey forged ahead three minutes in the second half when substitute Fatih Aktay served Hayrullah Alici who hit home past goalkeeper Azzopardi.

Hayrullah Alici doubled the score on the 58th thanks to a fine rising shot with the ball ending in the top right corner behind the Malta goalkeeper.

Fatih Aktay made it 3-0 when he received the ball inside the area and controlled before hitting low past Azzopardi.

Four minutes from time, Turkey scored the fourth goal when Ertugul Ersoy hit the crossbar with a fine shot from outside the area and off the rebound, Fatih Aktay slotted the ball home past the helpless goalkeeper.

TURKEY Tarik Cetin, Bahadir Ciloglu, Burak Bekaroglu, Ertugrul Ersoy, Sabit Yilmaz (41′ Dogus Can Incedere)(61′ Alican Ozfesli), Birhan Vatansever, Enes Unal (41′ Fatih Aktay), Emirhan Aydogan, Hayrullah Alici, Mehmet Celik, Ugur Tezel.

MALTA Jamie Azzopardi, Daniel Buckle (61′ Neil Spiteri), Jean Borg, Matthew Guillaumier, Aidan Friggieri, Jake Grech, Conor Borg (79′ Juan Corbalan), Joseph Mbong, Myles Beerman, Iousef Meli, Mark Scicluna (80′ Luke Galea).

Referee: Jonathan Lardot (BEL)