Mehmet off to Euros

West Ham United's Deniz Mehmet was celebrating after helping Turkey to reach the UEFA European Under-17 Championship finals on Tuesday.

The 16-year-old Academy goalkeeper kept a clean sheet as the Turks beat Finland 2-0 at the 5 Ocak stadium in the Turkish town of Adana. That result, combined with Wales' 3-0 win over Romania in nearby Tarsus-Mersin, saw Mehmet's team top Elite qualifying round Group Six.

Turkey finished unbeaten, having earlier drawn 2-2 with Wales and 0-0 with Romania, on five points. Wales and Romania each finished on four points, with Finland coming fourth and bottom on three points.

Mehmet played the full 80 minutes in all three of Turkey's matches and will be hoping to keep his place at this summer's finals, which will be held in Germany in May.

Turkey have won the Under-17 tournament once before in 2005, beating the Netherlands 2-0 in Italy. The Turks were losing semi-finalists last year, when they hosted the competition, losing on penalties to France in the last-four.

Previously, Turkey prevailed at the UEFA European Under-16 Championship - which was replaced by the Under-17 competition in 2002 - in 1994 and also finished fourth in 1987.

Spain, Netherlands, Italy, England, Spain, France and hosts Germany have also qualified. The final Elite round qualifying group will be settled later on Tuesday, with Greece, Switzerland and Poland fighting for the one remaining spot.