UEFA U19 GROUP A: Portugal in semis – Italy and Poland fight for spot

The games of the second matchday in Group A of the UEFA U19 Championship left a clear perspective for next week.

QUALIFIED Portugal, with 6 points, does not depend on any other result to guarantee a semi-final spot. They have even secured first place in the group, having beaten the other two contesting teams, Italy and Portugal.

TWO FOR ONE SPOT On Sunday, Poland and Italy will face each other in the final matchday at the National Stadium in Ta’Qali. Who will qualify? If Italy wins, Alberto Bollini’s team will advance to the next phase. The same will happen if the game ends in a draw. The two teams will have the same points and same goal difference, but Italy will advance because they have a better attack than Poland (5 goals against 2, as it stands). Specifically, Italy won the opener game against Malta 4-0 and scored one goal in the 5-1 defeat against Portugal, making it a total of five goals. Poland was defeated by Portugal 2-0 but won against Malta 2-0, scoring a total of two goals. The Polish team can only reach the semifinals if they win.

ELIMINATED Malta will say goodbye to the competition and will aim to secure a victory or at least score their first goal in the tournament. In any case, they will finish bottom of the group because they were defeated by Poland and Italy.

HOW IT WORKS In the regulations of the final UEFA U19 Championship tournament, rule 17 explains the criteria used for the Group Stages. In the case of a draw, Italy and Poland will reach point F in order to find the winners.

 If two or more teams in the same group are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:

1. A higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
2. Superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;
3. A higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question;
4. If, after having applied criteria a) to c), teams still have an equal ranking, criteria a) to c) are reapplied exclusively to the group matches between the remaining teams to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria e) to h) apply in the order given to the two or more teams still equal;
5. Superior goal difference in all group matches;
6. A higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
7. Lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received by players and team officials in all group matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
8. A higher position in the qualifying round coefficient rankings.

Credit: AIPS Media