UEFA U17 EURO | GREAT RESULT OF THE U17 NATIONAL TEAM, SERBIA IS AMONG THE FOUR BEST TEAMS IN EUROPE

The U17 National Team of Serbia achieved great success at the UEFA U17 European Championship in Cyprus, reaching the semi-finals of the competition. The U17 National Team repeated the success from 2022, when our team also reached the Semifinal match.

THE WAY TO THE QUARTERFINALS

The players led by Head Coach Jovan Damjanović worked hard from the very beginning, without too much euphoria, but with optimism and faith in the team. Our U17 National team played its opening match of the championship, against Ukraine and achieved its first victory at the championship, a victory that practically opened the door to the quarterfinals for our team. Despite problems such as injuries and yellow cards, Serbia played bravely, took the lead with an early goal by Dušan Makević, interestingly the first goal of the entire tournament, and maintained the lead until the end of the match.

The U17 National Team sealed their ticket to the quarterfinals with a victory against Cyprus. Serbia played against the motivated host of the tournament in a completely different environment, in front of 5,000 spectators, and the host team took the lead in the middle of the first half of the match However, Serbia showed its character, continued to dominate the pitch and with a reversal, achieved a 1-3 victory, and mathematically secured a place in the quarterfinals.

The Head Coach Damjanović said at that moment that there are possibilities for improvement, for a better game, and promised that Serbia will improve its form with every match. It was exactly like this, as our U17 National Team played its best match against Czechia, the team that secured, just like Serbia, a place in the next stage of the competition one round before the end of the Group Stage.  This match only decided the position in the table, i.e., who will play against Denmark and who will play against Austria in the quarterfinals. Despite the great performance, The U17 National Team was defeated after a reversal at the end of the match (4-3), and therefore the Serbia’s opponent in the quarterfinals was Austria.

QUARTER FINAL MATCH

Our National Team played against Austria in the quarterfinals, an extraordinary team, with many talented players and a very disciplined game style. The fact that they did not have a single defeat or conceded a goal in the group stage indicates how high-quality the Austrian team is. Austria took the lead in the first minute of the match, however our team, just like in previous matches, played bravely, consistently and in an organized manner. Serbia fought back, reaching a two-goal advantage, and the match ended with a score of 3-2, a victory for our team. A big and well-deserved celebration at “AEK Arena”, and a qualification to the semi-final match! The Head Coach Damjanović ended up in the hands of his players, and the players of our National Team sent beautiful pictures to Europe.

SEMI-FINAL MATCH

The rival of our team in the semi-finals was Portugal, the team that finished first in the “group of death” with England, France and Spain. Probably the first favorite to win the competition. The Head Coach Jovan Damjanović was not able to lead the team from the bench due to a suspension – two yellow cards in the previous two matches, and the following players were not able to play for the yellow card’s suspension: Uroš Đorđević and Stefan Mladenović. These players were important ones in the previous victories.

However, Our Team took a 2-0 lead and practically made the way to the final match after the first 45 minutes of the game. Those 45 minutes were probably the best half of the tournament. Serbia played modern and beautiful football, deservedly took the lead and even missed an opportunity to increase the advantage. In the second half, Portugal came out much more offensive, managed to refresh the team with changes and scored two goals at the very end of the match and reversed the result (3-2). It was also the full-time result, that left our team without a place in the final match, which would not be undeserved.

Our National Team can be proud that it has one of the best goal-scorers and players of the entire tournament, Mihajlo Cvetković, who scored a total of four goals.

Serbia once again shined in Europe, achieved a phenomenal result after continuous years of work. There are statistical data that will testify to the kind of football played by team led by Head Coach Damjanović, and equally important, they showed a great approach and behavior, both on and off the pitch, winning the sympathy of both their own and all neutral fans and local people in Larnaca. The future is bright and there is no doubt that this team will one day be a crucial part of our best National Team.