EURO U19: Titani beaten late on while down to ten men

The Under-19 National Team began their road to EURO 2025 with a 2-0 defeat to Czechia, who made the most of their numerical advantage to strike late on and secure provisional top spot in Group 6. The match unfolded along evenly balanced lines. Czechia threatened with a move between Belžík and Pikolon, followed by a dangerous cross from the former that was headed away by Zafferani. San Marino showed themselves going forward with a diagonal ball from Riccardi to Domeniconi, who immediately squared it into the box for Cervellini, but the Biancazzurri midfielder was unable to create any real danger. Cervellini was involved again towards the end of the first half: excellent ball recovery in midfield, then a good switch of play to Riccardi, whose cross, however, failed to find any striker ready to turn it goalwards. Immediately after the restart, Della Balda and Protti tried to combine on the edge of the area, without managing to develop the move. Gradually, Czechia increased their pressure and set up camp in the Sammarinese half. In the meantime, coach Cancelli made his first change: Forcellini came on for Domeniconi. On 68 minutes, the Sammarinese side worked the flank perfectly: Forcellini picked out Cervellini, who delivered a driven cross into the area for Capicchioni. The striker attacked the ball decisively but was beaten to it by Tesař, who went down in the collision. The referee saw a foul by Capicchioni and showed a yellow card, the second for the number 11 in blue and white. San Marino were thus reduced to ten men for the remaining 25-plus minutes. The incident allowed Czechia to grow further in confidence and territory. On 72 minutes Casadei had to intervene to turn away Pech’s shot from the edge of the area. The Czechs’ efforts were finally rewarded on 83 minutes when, from a corner, the Sammarinese defence failed to clear and Konečný, using his powerful frame, recycled the loose ball, carved out space for the shot and beat Casadei with a diagonal effort. In the meantime, one of the two Filippo Valentinis, the forward, had come on for Protti. Then it was Marinucci’s turn to replace Luca Bugli. Just before the 90th minute Czechia doubled their lead through a header from Pikolon, who took advantage at the far post of a pinpoint cross from Tesař. There were no further twists in added time. Czechia thus move top of the group level on points with Finland but with a better goal difference. For the young Titani, the next fixture will be on Saturday at 12:00 (Italian time) against tournament hosts Finland. The match will be broadcast live on the YouTube channel of the Football Association of Finland ("Palloliitto")

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EURO U19 2025 – Qualifying Round | Czechia – San Marino 2-0 CZECHIA Rodriguez; Piták (from 46' Tesař), Musli, Konečný, Kolísek; Polák (from 74' Večeřa), Feit (from 60' Rus); Belžík (from 47' Hranoš), Pech, Mokrovics (from 74' Zahradníček), Pikolon Substitutes: Trešl, Jindra, Saal, Tošnar Coach: Ales Krecek   SAN MARINO Casadei; G. Bugli, Zafferani, Semprini; Domeniconi (from 64' Forcellini), Cervellini, L. Bugli (from 83' Marinucci), Della Balda, Riccardi; Capicchioni, Protti (from 74' Valentini) Substitutes: Hoel, Bindi, Meloni, Mularoni, Pasolini, Valentini Coach: Nicola Cancelli   Referee: Bulat Sariyev (KAZ) Assistants: Samat Tergeussizov (KAZ) and Eemeli Kettunen (FIN) Fourth official: Joona Manninen (FIN) Booked: Capicchioni, Semprini, Della Balda, Pikolon Sent off: Capicchioni (second yellow) Scorers: 82' Konečný, 89' Pikolon Attendance: 102

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