Germany plays France in the UEFA U19-final

Thorsten Frennstedt

Germany, who holds the title, plays France in the final of the UEFA U 19-tournament in Sweden this Sunday. Germany beat England 1-0 and France beat Denmark 1-0.

Although they won Germany«s national coach Silvia Neid was not pleased with the performance by her team. ÒPerhaps we underestimated England. There were no reasons for that. In this game England was the best team.

England had most shots on goals and some wide. Germany scored on a PK, one of its few chances. Anne Sabel hit the ball behind Toni-Anne Wayne in the English goal after 29 minutes. England put pressure on Germany in the 2nd half when playing with the strong wind.

England-coach Maureen Marley stated, ÒThis was our best match in Sweden. We played more professionel than against Denmark. The team showed itself how good it could play. The Germans used the advantage of being ahead in the way they played in the second half.Ó

France won against Denmark thanks to its very strong deep defense, mainly the three-backline Sandrine Dusang, Laura Georges and OphŽlie Meilleroux. The Danes just a few times managed to hit the ball behind them because of the wind. Claire Morel scored the winning goal close under the bar in the 35th minute.

When we watched the video after our game againt Germany some players cried over the big mistakes when letting the Germans score, France«s national coach Bruno Bini disclosed. Per Rud of Denmark comments, Ó We thought that keeping the ball within the team would give us opportunities to score, but the French side was better even at that. We had not the force to threaten the French defense in the second half. France played very tactical.