Belarus issue early warning

Belarus caused an upset with a sensational comeback to defeat five-time champions Italy 3-2 on aggregate in the play-offs and reach the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship finals. Denmark 2011 will be their third participation after 2004 and 2009 and the goal now is to progress from the group stage for the first time.

Pavel Nekhaychik and Vladimir Yurchenko were their men for the big occasion. Winger Nekhaychik, who impressed in the UEFA Champions League with FC BATE Borisov in 2008/09, scored crucial goals in the last two group games against Scotland and Azerbaijan to earn a play-off place. Yurchenko, a diminutive and skilful striker with great pace, took over from there, his two goals in the first five minutes of the second leg against Italy creating the shock of the qualifying stage.

Before that, Belarus finished second in Group 10 behind Scotland, reaching the play-offs as one of the best four runners-up. They started with victories against Austria and Azerbaijan and despite suffering a defeat in Scotland in October 2009, succumbing to a 92nd-minute goal, they bounced back with two victories against Albania. Belarus received an even bigger boost in their opening game of 2010 in Austria when, trailing 3-1 to the then group leaders, substitute Dmitri Rekish scored twice in the last 15 minutes to salvage a point.

Nekhaychik resistered in both of Belarus's final games, earning a 1-1 home draw with Scotland and then hitting the 76th-minute winner against Azerbaijan that secured the three points needed to book a play-off berth. Having posted five wins and two draws from their eight games, Belarus finished level on 17 points with Scotland but second on head-to-head record.

Drawn against Italy in the play-offs, Belarus suffered a major setback when they lost the away leg 2-0, but they made the perfect start to the return in Minsk. Yurchenko struck twice in the first five minutes to level the tie and with no further goals forthcoming the game went into extra time, during which defender Oleg Veretilo turned goalscoring hero with the winner that allowed coach Georgi Kondratyev to open the champagne he had brought along just in case.

Yurchenko's double took him level with Maksim Skavysh, Nekhaychik and Rekish on three strikes for the campaign, as Belarus spread the goals around their squad. Yurchenko and fellow play-off hero Veretilo can now look forward to another U21 finals, having appeared in Sweden in 2009 along with current team captain Mikhail Sivakov of Cagliari Calcio. Whether they can conjure another champagne moment remains to be seen.