Moldova U-19s start off on wrong foot

Moldova's national Under-19 football team on Thursday suffered a defeat in the opener of the preliminary round for the 2009 European Championship, losing 0:2 to Russia on Zimbru Stadium, Info-Prim Neo reports. The task of the guest side was eased by Moldova's midfielder Dumitru Condariuc who scored an own goal in the 10th minute of the game. The efforts of the tricolor squad to tie up the score were fruitless even after massive substitutions on which coach Vlad Goian relied in half two. Russia scored again through Veaceslav Dimitriev just a minute before the final whistle to mark their first victory in Group 6. After the game, coach Vlad Goian said that despite the wrong-foot start he remained confident that Moldova would qualify for the Finals. "The match was extremely tough, we didn't get many scoring occasions. But I'm sure my players have enough strength to focus on the remaining games and we'll do our best to be successful", he declared. In the second game of Group 6, also hosted by a Moldovan venue, Latvia clinched a point from a 2:2 draw against Italy. [Group 6 Results] Russia-Moldova 0-2 Latvia-Italy 2-2 [Table] Russia 3 p Italy 1 p Latvia 1 p Moldova 0 p [Fixtures] Oct. 4 Moldova-Italy, Chisinau, 15:00 Latvia-Russia, Orhei, 15:00