Perfect Germany make France fall at first hurdle

Germany beat France 3-0 to finish Group A of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship with a perfect record and deny Les Bleus a semi-final place.

France won all six of their qualifiers but must now watch from home as their vanquishers in Ljubljana take on Poland in the last four. Germany were simply too good and overran Jean-Claude Giuntini's side in the second half thanks to two goals from Max Meyer and another from Max Dittgen. France were still set to go through even at 3-0 down, but Georgia's late winner against Iceland ensures it is they who progress.

A France victory would have guaranteed their passage, but it was Germany who seized the initiative from the off. Marc Oliver Kempf was the first to see the whites of Mike Maignan's eyes, but the France goalkeeper blocked his shot. Maignan made an even better save later in the half, diving sharply to his right to parry Meyer's effort after the influential No10 had got in behind the France defence.

Germany's frustration looked set to go up a notch seven minutes into the second half when Kempf conceded a penalty, but Oliver Schnitzler made a fine one-handed stop to keep out Zakarie Labidi's effort. It was a reprieve celebrated rapturously by Schnitzler's team-mates, and they were quick to capitalise.

Timo Werner flashed a shot narrowly off target from wide out on the right, but Meyer made no such mistake a minute later, latching on to Marian Sarr's brilliant pass and stroking into the bottom corner. Barely 60 seconds had elapsed when Meyer added a second, applying a neat finish after Julian Brandt's buccaneering run down the left.

Stefan Böger's team were now rampant and made it 3-0 just after the hour when Dittgen collected Meyer's clever through ball and fired emphatically past Maignan.