Turkey and Germany back in the groove

Turkey and Germany shrugged off last season's disappointment to book their places in the UEFA European Under-19 Championship Elite round from Group 3.

Welcome wins
Turkey reached last season's final tournament in Ukraine only to collect just one point from three Group B games, but made a winning start to this season's competition as a 66th-minute strike from substitute Oltan Karakullukcu – who had only come on two minutes earlier – proved enough to defeat ten-man Moldova in Rodange, Iurii Sinitchih being shown a straight red card with 13 minutes to play. Germany did not even get as far as the finals last time out, Spain ending their trophy defence in the Elite round. In their opener TSG 1899 Hoffenheim forward Marco Terrazzino's double either side of half-time, added to by a 78th-minute Christian Clemens effort, defeated mini-tournament hosts Luxembourg on Matchday 1.

Contrasting fortunes
Two days later Germany were in even more potent goalscoring form against Moldova at the Alphonse Theis Stadium, an early double from Cenk Tosun giving Heiko Herrlich's team a two-goal lead by the 13th minute. Toni Kroos added a third before half-time and two goals in five second-half minutes from Terrazzino and Clemens completed an emphatic win. Turkey, however, found the going tougher against Luxembourg despite Ali Helvacı's 59th-minute opener, Raphaël De Sousa rescuing a point two minutes into added time.

Turkey triumph
That meant Germany were through ahead of the Matchday 3 meeting with Turkey while their opponents needed a point to make sure of qualification, and Ogün Temizkanoglu's charges duly obliged with a 2-1 win thanks to goals from Ismail Haktan Odabasi and Mustafa Olcaytu Ergen, Tosun's 87th-minute effort not enough to deny Turkey first position in the section. Moldova, meanwhile, claimed the consolation of third place with a 2-1 defeat of Luxembourg, Octavian Onofrei and Evgheni Golubovschi getting the goals either side of De Sousa's 67th-minute equaliser, but they cannot go through.