Loisel predicts bright future

By Pete Sanderson in Warrington

Elisabeth Loisel, French coach
I am very proud of my players. They gave absolutely everything and, over the three games, I think their performances warranted a place in the last four of this tournament. When we look back at the tournament I think we lost it against Norway and not in this game. We expected Germany to give us a tough game and were disappointed to not have already booked our place in the last four before this game. But we have a young squad and finished the game today with seven players from our youth academy on the pitch so the signs for the future are good. But we wish we could have had the chance to show what we could do in the last four.

Tina Theune-Meyer, German coach
I am very pleased with the result because we stuck to our game plan and retained our 100 per cent record in the tournament. We wanted to win to keep the team in high spirits before the semi-final and we have done that, scoring eight goals and conceding none. We also had the chance to rest a few players when we made the substitutions in the second half so we enter the last four both confident in attack and defence and very fresh. The French played well in the first hour or so but we kept battling and I think showed our superior strength and fitness to win the game convincingly. We must now face Finland who are a strong side defensively and link up well between defence and attack. I saw them play Denmark and Italy before the tournament and they look very organised but I must admit I thought we would end up playing the Danes if we won the group.