Greece U19s control their own fate ahead of Elite round finale
Greece U19s control their own fate ahead of Elite round finale
The Greece U19s control their own fate heading into the final matchday of Group 2 in the EURO 2019 Elite qualifying round.
The Greek U19 national team came away with a massive, unexpected victory over group favorites and hosts, England, on matchday two to leap into first place going into the third matchday. The victory sees Greece control their own fate when they match up against the Czech Republic in the final group fixture.
Greece sit in first place with four points while England and the Czech Republic have three points. Denmark sit with just one point from their first two matches. On matchday three, Greece will play the Czech Republic while England will play bottom of the table Denmark. Both matches are set to kick off at 16:00 (GR). Only the top team from the group will advance to the eight-team European Championships in Armenia this July.
Since this is a UEFA competition, UEFA’s tiebreaker criteria applies in the group stages. If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied:
Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams have the same number of points, and they met in the last round of the group and are tied after applying all criteria above (not used if more than two teams have the same number of points, or if their rankings are not relevant for qualification for the next stage);
Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
UEFA coefficient for the qualifying round draw;
Drawing of lots
Below are the scenarios for Greece to top Group 2 and advance to the Euro 2019 Championships.
Greece win over Czech Republic: No matter what happens in the other group match, if Greece defeat the Czech Republic, Greece will top the group with seven points.
Greece draw against the Czech Republic: In this case, Greece will advance if England fail to defeat Denmark. If England win, they will claim top spot in the group.
If Greece lose to the Czech Republic, Greece cannot claim top spot and will be eliminated.
by Sarantos Kaperonis
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