Belgium ensure Estonian first
Estonian relief
Wins against Kazakhstan and mini-tournament hosts Estonia effectively booked Belgium's UEFA European Under-19 Championship Elite round place with a match to spare and they completed their campaign today with a 2-2 draw against Croatia. That result allowed Estonia, who opened with a 4-1 win against Croatia, to ensure second place and a little bit of history by beating Kazakhstan 2-1.
Hosts win
Estonia, who were looking to break a run dating back to their entry into UEFA competition in 1992, laid the foundations for success in Tallinn with their Matchday 1 defeat of Croatia. Rauno Alliku scored on eight and 29 minutes, Henrik Ojamaa added another and Henri Anier put the game beyond Croatia, for who Hrvoje Tokić scored late on. It was closer for Belgium, as with ten minutes left Almat Abdramanov cancelled out Christian Benteke's early goal. But substitute Nill De Pauw, like Benteke a veteran of Belgium's run to the 2007 U17 semi-finals on home soil, secured a 2-1 victory.
Belgian cruise
Some other familiar names from the former junior squad, who also went to the FIFA U-17 World Cup, contributed to the subsequent 5-0 defeat of Estonia. Eden Hazard scored after three minutes and Guillaume François and De Pauw made it three by half-time. Benteke converted a 67th-minute penalty and Fazli Kocabas completed the victory. Croatia moved back into contention with a 4-0 win against Kazakhstan. Domagoj Antolić scored on 20 minutes, Dino Škvorc added another after the break. Besart Abdurahimi struck on the hour and Grigoriy Dubkov put through a late own goal.
Croatian heartbreak
Things were now not completely in Estonia's hands as they knew even if they beat Kazakhstan, a win for Croatia against Belgium would relegate the hosts to third in a three-way head-to-head tie due to their Matchday 2 defeat. Estonia kept up their end of the bargain with a 2-1 win against Kazakhstan; Kaspar Kaldoja scored just before the break and although Sergey Khizhnichenko equalised on 51 minutes, Alliku immediately restored the lead. However, Estonia looked in trouble when Croatia led Belgium 2-0 at half-time through Mateo Pavlović and Škvorc but Hazard pulled one back with a 51st-minute penalty amd equalised from another spot kick with 16 minutes left.
Comments