Neighbours sweep into next stage

Serbia and Croatia both moved comfortably into the UEFA European Under-19 Championship Elite round after making short work of qualifying round Group 12.

Winning starts
Entering as a single nation for the first time having reached the 2005 semi-finals as Serbia and Montenegro, Serbia opened their campaign in Lithuania with a 4-1 win against Moldova. Vojo Ubiparip struck on four minutes in Kaunas and Miloš Karišik then made it two. Iuri Bondarciuc pulled one back early in the second half but Serbia substitute Miloš Živanovic scored in the 62nd minute and again in added time to seal the points. Croatia, containing a large part of the squad that finished fourth at the 2005 UEFA European U17 Championship finals, defeated Lithuania 2-0 in Marijampole with a 16th-minute effort from Nikola Kalinic and a Vitalij Savickas own goal just before the break.

Kalinic continues run
By the end of Matchday 2 the qualifying positions were filled. Croatia overcame Lithuania 3-0 in Kaunas with a second-half hat-trick by Kalinic, the first goal a penalty, to continue the fine UEFA competition record of a striker who claimed a season's best tally of eleven in the 2004/05 U17 campaign and managed five more in last year's U19 preliminary rounds. Over in Marijampole, the hopes of the hosts were ended by a 4-0 loss to Serbia. Miralem Sulejmani opened the scoring on 39 minutes and after the interval Miloš Bosančić and substitutes Zoran Milovac and Vojo Ubiparip sealed Serbia's progress into December's Elite round draw along with Croatia.

Serbia top
First place was still at stake in the final matches, with Serbia holding the advantage on goal difference. Twice Croatia led their neighbours in Kaunas, but before the break Damir Rasic's opener was cancelled out by Sulejmani and Vedran Turkalj's goal on 59 minutes was equalised a quarter-hour later by Bosančić, who received an added-time red card although that did not affect the 2-2 scoreline which ensured Serbia finished top. The consolation of third place went to Moldova as goals late in each half from Iurie Livandovschi and substitute Vladimir Potlog ensured they defeated Lithuania 2-0 despite Dmitri Nicolov's red card 15 minutes from time.