City Striker Nets Winner for Wales Under-17's

Youth Player Success
By Chris O'Brien
March 11 2004

Cardiff City youth forward Jamal Easter scored the only goal of the game in the Welsh Under-17's 1-0 victory over Israel. The match was the opening game of Wales' UEFA European Championship qualification campaign, with the finals held in France in the summer.

Ian Rush' Welsh under-17 side have started their UEFA European Championship qualification campaign with a hard-fought win against outsiders Israel. Wales hung on for a valuable three points in their opening match despite going down to 10-men with Rhys Powell of Bolton Wanderers dismissed in the second-half.

The only goal of the game came mid-way through the first-half courtesy of a strike from Cardiff City forward Jamal Easter. The youngster is quite highly rated amongst the youth ranks at the club, and is seen to have a bright future ahead of him as a Football League player.

Wales will face tougher matches in the remainder of the qualification competition though, with Portugal and Greece the other two teams in the group. The Portuguese won their opening match against the Greeks 2-0, and would appear to be the team to beat in the group, if not the championship as a whole. Only the winners of each group qualify for the tournament finals which are held in France in the summer.

Congratulations to Jamal Easter for his goal.

For more information on the competition, which several City players are competing in, please visit the official UEFA web-site by clicking here.