Swiss seal top spot, Danes miss out

By ESPNsoccernet staff


Iceland beat Denmark 3-1 but missed out on a place in the semi-finals of the Under-21 European Championships to Belarus on head to head record.

GettyImagesAdmir Mehmedi slots home for Switzerland.

Two goals in the space of two second-half minutes from Kolbeinn Sigthorsson and Birkir Bjarnason put the bottom of the group Icelanders (who had not scored in their first two games) in command but a header from Bashkim Kadrii with nine minutes left threatened to get the Danes back into the game.
Another goal would have sent Denmark through but Haraldur Bjornsson in the Iceland net was in inspired form to keep the scoreline down and a great run and curled shot from defender Hjortur Valgardsson put Iceland 3-1 ahead.
Switzerland made it three wins out of three as they beat Belarus 3-0 thanks to a brace from Admir Mehmedi. The first, a penalty, came after Innocent Emeghara was fouled by Oleg Veretilo after just five minutes and the second saw the striker net from just inside the box.
A late strike from Frank Feltscher from a tight angle made the table interesting, but it was of little consequence to the Swiss who had already claimed a place in the semi-finals after their first two games.
Iceland and Belarus both finished level on Goal Difference, Goals Scored and Goals Against, but went through on superior goal difference from the group matches played between the teams in question (Belarus +1, Iceland 0, Denmark -1).