Today, March 7, the U-17 youth national team of Ukraine (players not older than 2006) started playing in the elite qualifying round of Euro 2023 with a match against Cyprus.
Yuriy Moroz's wards played their first match of Group 6 against the hosts of the mini-tournament in the Cypriot city of Paphos.
Euro-2023 (U-17). Elite round of selection. Group 6
Cyprus (U-17) - Ukraine (U-17) - 2:4 (1:2)
Goals: Avramidis (45), Tsouliou (90 penalty) - Khan (9), Bilyi (22), Kalyn (60), Ponomarenko (82).
Cyprus: Pisias (c), Pirincis, Mikelides, Yiannakou (Sokratus, 44), Nicolaou, Andreou, Avramidis, Loukaidis (Tsouliou, 67), Kattirtzis (Evangelou, 67), Poursaitides (Sofocleous, 67), Konstantinos (Isaac, 88).
Ukraine: Bakus, Bakai, Korobov, Zakharchenko (Digtyar, 88), Dykyi, Ishchenko (Budko, 83), Pashko, Bilyi (Osipenko, 88), Khan (Synchuk, 83), Kalyn, Ponomarenko (k) (Rusnak, 83).
Our guys quickly took control of the game and gained a comfortable lead. In the 9th minute, Khan took advantage of Ishchenko's penetrating pass and scored a great shot into the back nine. Soon the guests scored for the second time - Bilyi received the ball in the penalty area and beat the goalkeeper.
After that, the Cypriots added something in the attack, moments began to arise near Bakus's goal, and shortly before the break Avramidis found himself in a striking position and reduced the gap between the islanders. Moreover, the hosts had several more chances to score in the time added by the referee.
However, in the second half, Yuriy Moroz's men brought the game to victory. In the 60th minute, Kalyn broke into the penalty area, beat two opponents and pushed the ball past the keeper. Subsequently, Vladyslav could have scored again, but this time Pisias helped his team out. Later, Sofocleous had a great moment for the Cypriots, but missed the target, and then Konstantin failed to score from a few meters.
Instead, in the 82nd minute, the blue and yellows scored for the fourth time when Ponomarenko headed in Pashko's cross. After that, the hosts managed to score one goal from the penalty spot. As a result, the youth national team of Ukraine began its performance in the elite round of selection with a victory - 4: 2.
In the second match of the first round in Group 6, Italy and Ireland drew 1-1.
Thus, the group standings are as follows:
1. Ukraine - 6 points
2. Ireland - 1
3. Italy - 1
4. Cyprus - 0
Schedule of the next group matches:
10.03.2023
Italy - Cyprus
Ukraine - Ireland
13.03.2023
Ukraine - Italy
Ireland - Cyprus
In the elite round, 32 teams are divided into eight groups, with 15 tickets to the final stage at stake, which will take place from May 17 to June 2 in Hungary. Eight winners of the elite qualifying round groups and seven runners-up with the best results will advance to the final tournament. They will be joined by the host country.
It will be recalled that in the qualifying round of Euro 2023 (U-17), the youth national team of Ukraine under the leadership of Yuriy Moroz took first place in its group, ahead of the teams of Azerbaijan (5: 2), Liechtenstein (7: 0) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (1: 1).
