Belarus belief poses threat to Turkey

Belarus head into their deciding UEFA Under-21 European Championship play-off game against Turkey with a depleted squad, but that has not diminished coach Yuri Kurnenin's confidence that his charges can overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit and progress to next summer's final tournament in Sweden.

'Even chance'
Sercan Yildrim's goal after ten minutes in Antalya is all that separates the sides, but Belarus are missing some key men as they prepare to host the return leg. In addition to the already-injured trio of Oleg Veretilo, Filip Rudzik and Siarhei Balanovich, midfielder Sergei Kislyak and striker Leonid Kovel are suspended having collected yellow cards in the countries' first encounter on Friday. Nonetheless, Kurnenin remains upbeat: "I still believe the two teams have an even chance to qualify for the final stage," he told uefa.com.

High-class opposition
"I think we can get the right result in front of our fans and hope they fill up the stadium to support us," added the coach who will also be without Dzmitry Verkhautsou and Anton Putilo, following their promotion to the senior squad, while captain Mikhail Afanasiev is still a doubt after missing the first leg through illness. If Belarus do overcome Turkey, they will match the 2004 vintage who qualified for the final tournament in Germany although Kurnenin is under no illusions about the obstacle they need to hurdle. "We have to admit Turkey's players are very skilful, so we will have to counter with a well-organised display at a high tempo and give 100 per cent commitment."

Welcome reinforcements
Turkey, meanwhile, have been boosted by the news that Fatih Terim has released four players from his senior squad for the crucial meeting in Borisov. Defenders Ceyhun Gülselam and Serdar Kurtuluş along with midfield duo Aydın Yılmaz and Caner Erkin flew to Belarus on Monday. Hami Mandıralı, coach of the U21s, said his side will gain confidence from the reinforcements, who were called up for full international duty due to the senior side's injury crisis ahead of their FIFA World Cup qualifier against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Saturday. "They [the returning squad members] played in our qualifying matches against the Czech Republic and Armenia, influencing the result of both games," Mandıralı said. "Now we are more powerful, but even though we have an advantage from the first match, we will take the second leg just as seriously."