Germany defeat Denmark to reach final

Germany will face the Netherlands in the UEFA European Under-17 Championship final after two second-half goals ended the hopes of Denmark.

Far from convincing in the group stage and depleted by four suspensions, Steffen Freund's side showed impressive defiance to overcome a Denmark team which had secured maximum points from their opening three fixtures. All the damage was done in the second half, Kaan Ayhan and Nils Quaschner scoring the goals to set up a repeat of the 2009 showpiece here on Sunday.

Though Denmark captain Frederik Holst's header was the first effort for either team, it was Freund's charges who were quickest to find their feet. Far more judicious in possession, it was in the final third where Germany, without banned right-back Mitchell Weiser, centre-half Nico Perrey, winger Fabian Schnellhardt and top scorer Samed Yesil, appeared to lose composure, Erich Berko's well-directed shot their only output of note.

Slow out of the blocks, Thomas Frank's team gradually begun to stamp their mark on the game, the effervescent Viktor Fischer doing his utmost to spark his team-mates into life. They duly responded, carving out the two best opportunities of the opening period in its final minutes.

Kenneth Zohore was the first recipient, flinging himself at a cross but failing to make sufficient contact to test Odisseas Vlachodimos. Christian Nørgaard also neglected to work the keeper having danced his way through only to be thwarted at the last.

Any impetus those late opportunities may have conjured appeared to be decimated by the interval, though Denmark remained admirably patient in their quest for a breakthrough. Germany's early threat, meanwhile, appeared to have been stifled until, 58 minutes in, Ayhan's speculative free-kick took a wicked deflection which wrong-footed goalkeeper Oliver Korch.

Frank's team pressed for an equaliser but were undone once more in equally unfortunate circumstances, Quaschner unwittingly turning in Cimo Röcker's free-kick from the right. Fischer went close to halving Denmark's arrears and Emre Can struck the bar but it mattered not, Germany had done enough and will hope to repeat their 2009 final defeat of the Netherlands rather than 2-0 group-stage loss last week.