On Monday, Croatia Under-17s will kick off the European Under-17 Championship against Austria Under-17s at the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium in Larnaca.
Croatia and Austria will both have aspirations of finishing in the top two of a group which contains Denmark and Wales.
Match preview
Croatia are set to appear at the tournament for the second year in a row after successfully negotiating their way through qualifying.
They picked up six points from three matches to advance to the elite round, where they pipped Germany to second spot in group five to punch their ticket to Cyprus.
After drawing with Germany and losing to Portugal, Croatia went on to win their final qualifying game, cruising to a dominant 5-0 win over the Republic of Ireland.
They are now looking forward to making their sixth appearance at the European Under-17 Championship, having previously featured in 2005, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2023.
Having experienced group-stage elimination in their previous two appearances, Croatia's main aim will be to advance to the knockout rounds for the first time since 2015.
Meanwhile, Austria are preparing to appear at the European Under-17 Championship for the first time since enduring a difficult campaign in 2019.
On that occasion, Austria finished bottom of the group after losing all three matches to Italy, Spain and Germany.
Martin Scherb's side collected seven points to top Group 1 in the first stage of qualifying, before they recorded the same points total to finish in pole position in the elite stage.
Austria began the final phase with a win over Slovenia and a draw against Norway, before they beat Spain 3-1 on matchday three to wrap up a successful qualifying campaign.
As they turn their focus to the main tournament, they will regard a knockout round appearance as a success, having failed to make it out of the group stage in four of their previous six appearances.
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Team News
Croatia's Mislav Cutuk is set to lead the line after scoring six goals to finish qualifying as his country's top scorer.
At the opposite end of the pitch, Bayern Munich youngster Ljubo Puljic is expected to line up in central defence alongside Dinamo Zagreb's Marko Zebic.
Like their opponents, Austria will also have a Bayern player in their backline in the form of Magnus Dalpaz, who is set to form a centre-back partnership with Valentin Zabransky.
Oghenetejiri Adejenughure and Philipp Moizi represent two of Austria's main attacking threats after scoring three goals apiece during their country's qualifying campaign.
Croatia Under-17s possible starting lineup:
Rajic; Pajsar, Zebic, Puljic, Mandic; Bakovic, Vojvodic; Durdov, Ahmeti, Huskic; Cutuk
Austria Under-17s possible starting lineup:
Kurz; Roka, Dalpiaz, Pfluger, Sorg; Music, Spalt, Ivanschitz; Fidjeu-Tazemeta, Moizi, Adejenughure
We say: Croatia Under-17s 1-2 Austria Under-17s
While we expect Monday's contest to be a close-fought affair, we think that Austria will have the confidence and quality required to claim a narrow win after winning four of their last six matches.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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