Top two squeeze through

Bulgaria and Romania edged through to the Elite round of the 2004/05 UEFA European Under-17 Championship by the narrowest of margins after Group 1 came to a dramatic conclusion.

Six points each
Three teams finished on six points, with Poland joining Bulgaria and mini-tournament hosts Romania at the head of the standings, leaving Estonia bottom without a point. The section was therefore decided by the results of the matches between the top three and, with all having collected three points from their respective two games, Bulgaria finished first on goal difference and Romania claimed second place by virtue of a 1-0 win against the Poles on the group's final day.

Late turnaround
Home hopes of success looked bleak after the first round of matches, with Bulgaria producing a fine display to win 2-1 in Plopeni. Romania actually began the match the brighter and took a 13th-minute lead when captain Liviu Ganea converted Ion Mihai's pass, but their prospects suffered a setback on the stroke of half-time when Mihai was dismissed for a second bookable offence. Bulgaria capitalised fully in the second 40 minutes, Dimitar Iliev's two goals turning the match around late on.

Second-half success
In Strejnic, Poland beat Estonia 3-0 with the half-time introduction of forwards Marcin Siedlarz and Kamil Hempel providing the impetus. Tomasz Cywka broke the deadlock in the 51st minute, Kamil Oziemczuk doubled the lead two minutes past the hour and Cywka scored his second and Poland's third four minutes from time.

Poles in form
Bulgarian momentum was brought to a halt two days later as the Poles put themselves in prime position to progress with a 2-1 victory in Strejnic. In a fine game at the Conpet stadium, Hempel opened the scoring a minute before half-time, and Maciej Korzym rounded off a spell of Polish pressure with a second goal nine minutes after the restart. Although Siedlarz picked up a second yellow card in the 56th minute, Bulgaria were unable to find a way back into the match and, though Iliev pulled a goal back with two minutes left, Poland held on.

Mihai winner
Romania, meanwhile, bounced back from their opening defeat with a hard-earned 3-2 win against Estonia at Plopeni's Gheorghe Silagy stadium. Although Ganea found the net twice in the first 25 minutes, the hosts were pegged back by two Kaimar Saag goals in the 30th and 61st minutes and it seemed the match would end all square only for Armando Mihai to get the winner ten minutes from time.

Five-star display
Those results left the section intriguingly poised heading into the third and final round of matches, with Bulgaria bouncing back in style with a resounding 5-0 win against the Estonians in Strjnic. Iliev scored his fourth and fifth goals of the mini-tournament either side of Nikolay Petrov's strike as Bulgaria opened up a three-goal cushion by the 13th minute, with Mariyan Ognyanov on target twice in the second half.

Ganea glee
Poland went into their match with Romania needing a single point to clinch the section but fell behind in Plopeni to Ganea's shot from the edge of the penalty area in the 35th minute. In torrential rain and on a heavy pitch both sides struggled to carve out clear goalscoring opportunities and nine players were cautioned, with Poland's Korzym and Dan Bozesan of Romania both collecting their second bookings five minutes from time.

Slender hopes
Romania held on for a decisive win, however, and Polish hopes of progression now rest on finishing as the best third-placed side when all 12 first-round qualifying sections have been concluded - they have the leading record of the five completed pools.