France knock out holders

Holders Spain will not be at the 2002/03 UEFA European Under-19 Championship finals after being beaten to top spot in their qualifying round group by France.

French on top
The French topped the Group 2 mini-tournament, which they also hosted, with seven points, three clear of the Spanish and four ahead of Poland and Israel. Les Bleus will now feature at this summer's Under-19 finals in Liechtenstein, which take place from 16-26 July.

Goalless decider
The reigning champions went in to their final game against the French needing a win to have any chance of progressing but the crucial encounter finished goalless - to the delight of France defender Jacques Faty who felt his side deserved to top the group.

'Deserved qualification'
"We showed solidarity - this is why we have qualified for the finals," Faty told the French Football Federation's (FFF) website. "Our group was difficult but we knew we had to to raise to the challenge and impose our game. On the basis of our three encounters, our qualification seems to me to be deserved."

Poland thrashed
The other final-day game saw Israel thrash Poland 4-0 to end the Poles' own qualification hopes. Gil Vermouth scored a hat-trick for the Israelis.

Grax double
France had dominated the tournament from the very start, opening their campaign with an impressive 4-1 win against the Israelis - Sébastien Grax scoring twice. Meanwhile, Spain's campaign got off to the worst possible start when they fell to a surprise 2-1 defeat against Poland. The holders took the lead after 29 minutes through Igor Angulo but Mariusz Zganiacz levelled the scores after 50 minutes and Jakub Malecki snatched a winner in the 79th minute.

Spain hit back
Spain hit back in the second round of games with a 2-0 win against Israel, Kepa Blanco and Manuel Del Moral scoring the goals, while France maintained their 100 per cent record with a narrow 1-0 win against Poland, Jérémie Berthod scoring the winner. That result set up the final encounter between the French and Spanish, and paved the way for the holders' elimination.