Moldova’s U21 football team fought to a 2-2 draw with Russia in the last game of the qualifiers for the 2013 European Championship, Info-Prim Neo reports. The Moldovan players played an excellent first half and, after a prolonged attack, managed to score through Anatol Cheptine. The Russians improved after the break and managed to overturn the score by the end of the match, thanks to goals from Anton Grigoriev and Fedor Smolov. Moldova didn’t accept defeat and captain Ion Jardan managed to level the score in injury time. “We played defensively, but had a positive result in mind. We happy with the way we finished this qualifying campaign”, stated Moldova U21 manager Alexandru Kurteyan. In the other fixture in Group 6, Poland and Portugal produced a 0-0 stalemate. Russia topped the group with 17 points, two more than second-placed Portugal. Both teams qualified for the play-off for a place at the European Championship. Moldova occupied the 4th place with 7 points. It was the last game at this level for the players born in 1990-1991. Beginning with the next fixture, a friendly match with Hungary in Budapest on October 11, only players born in 1992 or younger will be called up to the U21 national team.