Today, March 13, the Ukraine U-17 national team (players born in 2006 or later) concluded their participation in the elite round of Euro 2023 qualification with a match against Italy.

In previous group 6 matches, coach Yuriy Moroz's wards defeated Cyprus at home (4:2) and lost to Ireland (0:3). Now our boys met the Italians on the Municipal Geroskipou stadium in Paphos. A victory was needed for them to advance from the group.

At the start of the match, Ukrainians had several chances, including Kalin's close-range shot which did not go past the goalkeeper and also involved a foul. Later, Surkis, our team’s goalkeeper, had to make saves against Ranghio Galli in one-on-one situations. However, on the 40th minute, Ravanjoli managed to open the scoring by remaining unmarked inside the penalty area.

Subsequently, Italians continued testing our keeper. Ukrainians responded with shots from set pieces by Ponomarenko and Osypenko. On the 64th minute, Ponomarenko had a dangerous shot after a corner kick, but the opponent cleared it off the line. And on the 77th minute, Italians broke through Ukraine's defense again to score their second goal - Libralli was the scorer.

Towards the end of the match, Apennines completed their third goal with a beautiful shot into the "nine" by Mendiçhino. Thus, the Ukrainian youth team lost 0:3 and finished in third place in the group, unfortunately not qualifying for the European Championship.

Euro 2023 (U-17). Elite round qualification. Group 6

March 7, 2023

Italy — Ireland — 2:2

Cyprus — Ukraine — 2:4

March 10, 2023

Ukraine — Ireland — 0:3

Italy — Cyprus — 2:1

March 13, 2023

Ukraine (U-17) — Italy (U-17) — 0:3 (0:1)

Goals: Ravanjoli (40), Libralli (77), Mendiçhino (87).

Ukraine (U-17): Surkis, Kaidalov (Bakay, 86), Korobov, Zakharchenko, Diky, Yshenko (Bily, 61), Synchuk (Han, 75), Osypenko (Pashko, 61), Budko, Kalin (Rusnak, 75), Ponomarenko (c).

Italy (U-17): Martinelli, Ventre, Ramai, Sadotti, Kochi (Pannuccio, 73), Mendiçhino, Ricci, Mannini (c) (Bonanomi, 88), Ranghio Galli (Scotti, 83), Romano (Libralli, 73), Ravanjoli (Rao, 88).

Yellow cards: Osypenko (7), Kalin (20), Ponomarenko (45+3), Korobov (52), Diky (90) — Kochi (48), Mannini (54), Romano (54), Corradi (71, not on field), Ventre (90+2).

Ireland — Cyprus — 3:2 (0:1)

Final standings

In the elite round, 32 teams are divided into eight groups with a total of 15 spots available for the final tournament which will take place from May 17 to June 2 in Hungary. The eight group winners and seven second-placed teams with the best results advance to the finals along with the host nation.

Euro 2023 (U-17). Elite round qualification

Group 1: Serbia, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus.

Group 2: Montenegro, Wales, Scotland, Iceland.

Group 3: Netherlands, England, Denmark, Northern Ireland.

Group 4: Spain, Germany, Turkey, Finland.

Group 5: Portugal, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia.

Group 6: Italy, Ukraine, Cyprus, Ireland.

Group 7: Belgium, Norway, Croatia, Slovenia.

Group 8: France, Switzerland, Latvia, Albania.

Recall that in the qualification round of Euro 2023 (U-17), under Yuriy Moroz's leadership, the Ukrainian youth team secured first place in their group, outperforming Azerbaijan (5:2), Liechtenstein (7:0) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (1:1).