Greece out of the European U-21 semifinals
GENEVA (Reuters) – France and the Czech Republic qualified for the semifinals of the European under-21 championship yesterday. Group B leaders France beat Belgium 2-0 and maintained their 100-percent record in the competition. The Czech Republic booked their passage to the semifinals with a 1-1 draw against Greece in Lausanne which gave them four points from three games, leaving them second to France in the group. The Czechs, beaten finalists two years ago, went ahead 10 minutes before the interval when Baros was pushed by Spiridon Vallas in the penalty area. Defender Zdenek Grygera made no mistake from the spot as he slotted the ball past Kotsolis to give his side the lead. Both teams battled hard in a scrappy encounter but Greece managed to find a way through a well-organized Czech defense as Georgios Kyriazis leveled the score in the 69th minute. Kyriazis curled a left-footed shot into the net from 12 meters after Sparta Prague goalkeeper Petr Cech had punched clear a Constantinos Loumpoutis free kick.
