Serbia victory proves in vain

Serbia saved their best until last in Group 7 but a 4-2 victory against Switzerland proved in vain as they were pipped to top spot and a place in the UEFA European Under-19 Championship by fellow winners Austria.

All four teams had three points to show from their opening two elite round matches in Austria, meaning everything was to play for as the section was played to a close today. Having allowed Switzerland to fight back from 2-0 down, Serbia capitalised on the 68th-minute dismissal of Gianluca D'Angelo to win comfortably in the end, although their loss to the mini-tournament hosts last time out ultimately proved decisive as Austria beat Denmark 4-3 to qualify for July's tournament in France.

Serbia started strongly and Switzerland No1 René Borkovic had already made a terrific save from Filip Djuričić before Adem Ljajić held off three defenders and drilled Tomislav Sivic's side in front after 19 minutes. Djuričić made no mistake with a fine run and finish ten minutes later, although Switzerland were not without chances of their own and deservedly drew level through Admir Mehmedi's header and captain Michael Lang either side of the hour.

Swiss hopes of qualifying disappeared with D'Angelo's dismissal, though, skipper Danijel Aleksić converting the resulting penalty before Ljajić completed the scoring with 13 minutes to play. "It's very disappointing that we didn't make it to the finals, although we played our best match of the tournament today," said Sivic. "We never gave up today and deserved the win, but the loss to Austria counted against us in the end."