Stalemate leaves Czechs frustrated

Ten-man Czech Republic and Greece finished third and fourth respectively in Group B of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship after playing out a goalless draw at the Sportpark Eschen-Mauren.

While Greece had already been eliminated by virtue of two defeats, the Czech Republic still harboured slim hopes of progressing to Thursday's semi-finals, but needed England to beat Turkey, win themselves, and overturn a goal difference four inferior at the start of the day. England kept up their half of the bargain with a 2-1 victory but the Czechs, who ended with ten men after the second-half dismissal of Tomáš Kalas, could find no way through and were fortunate to survive a series of close calls in the second half.

The sides' contrasting motivations were immediately apparent; the bright, breezy and positive Czech Reublic soon took charge of their opponents, who seemed stodgy and lacking in cohesion. Jiří Štol's charges, though, could summon up only a succession of long-range efforts, of which just Robert Mariotti's audacious first-time volley had goalkeeper Serafeim Giannikoglou fearful his guard might be breached.

It very nearly was on 25 minutes after the runaway move of the half, Marek Krátký racing down the right and to the byline before pulling perfectly back into the path of Martin Hurka, whose shot was well parried by Giannikoglou. Greece, though, were unperturbed by their lack of possession and began the second half full of the vim and vigour they so visibly lacked in the opening 40 minutes. Their newfound zest was twice so nearly rewarded, firstly through a Georgios Katidis header which crashed against the bar and, eventually, to safety.

Dimitrios Diamantakos was next to be denied, Filip Twardzik somehow scampering back to hook clear off the line. Such steadfast defence was to be further tested by the dismissal of Tomáš Kalas for a straight red on 66 minutes, but almost paid dividends with ten minutes left, Hurka shooting straight at Giannikoglou from close range and Jakub Plšek skimming the rebound off the bar. Greece pushed until the bitter end but Vlastimil Veselý's goal lived a charmed life and the stalemate prevailed.