FIAT DEALERS GARAGES

Greece will be back at the UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament after seeing off the challenge of a determined Denmark team to win elite round Group 5.

Greece were runners-up in Austria in 2007 and this summer's finals will mark their third participation since then. The success of Kostas Tsanas' side was founded on a solid defence, with no goals conceded in each of their three outings – most crucially, the final-day decider against section hosts Denmark.

Per Andersen's Danes made the best possible start with a 6-2 win against Cyprus in which Frederik Helstrup Jensen (6, 66) and Viktor Fischer (78, 90+2) each scored twice. Cyprus captain Pieros Sotiriou also got two goals, but further strikes from Uffe Bech and substitute Nicolai Brock-Madsen assured Denmark of a comfortable victory. Greece, meanwhile, kept a clean sheet against Turkey and took the points thanks to goals from Charis Mavrias (90+3) and a Dimitris Diamantakos double (66, 75) – both signs of things to come.

Diamantakos was on target again as Greece beat Cyprus 3-0 in their second fixture, Kostas Stafylidis getting the other two goals, and Denmark also made it two wins from two with a 3-1 defeat of Turkey in Brondby. Brock-Madsen, a 32nd-minute substitute, opened the scoring within 60 seconds of his introduction and, though Patrick Olsen looked to have made the game safe (65), Hakan Calhanoglu's 87th-minute goal for Turkey set up a tense finale only resolved when Denmark captain Mads Pedersen scored from the penalty spot deep into added time.

That meant the hosts needed only a point against Greece to win the section on goals scored, yet they were left chasing the game when Giannis Gianniotas gave the Greeks a 47th-minute lead. Mavrias made it two ten minutes later and Greece held out to push Denmark down into second, one place ahead of Turkey, 5-0 winners against Cyprus in their final fixture.

After the game Greek coach Tsanas praised his team's spirit: "I think we deserved to win today and qualify for the final tournament," he said. "We knew that Denmark and Turkey would be strong opponents but I feel that we have a very strong team. I believe that we showed that today. This victory is a result of the strong bond between these players."

Meanwhile, Danish coach Andersen has announced he will step down from his role after 18 years in charge of the national Under-19 side.