Berntsen hails Norway recovery

By Kevin Ashby in Warrington

Bjarne Berntsen, Norway coach
I'm not totally happy as we were going for a win and went very close to getting that when Solveig [Gulbrandsen] hit the post in the final few minutes. If that had gone in we would have been in a much stronger position. We were very poor in the first half, especially considering the way we played against Germany. We took too many touches in defence, were too slow coming out and lost the midfield battle. It was a mistake for their goal but that happens in football - even the best players in the world do that. What was really good was the way she recovered from that and played so well which proved what strong character she has. We now have to concentrate on our game against Italy and hope Germany beat France. Germany are the best team in the group and are well capable of beating France but we have to do our part of the job. We talked at half-time about playing the ball out quicker from defence, to move it at speed. We lifted our midfield up at least 15 yards and said we must attack whenever we can. It was tremendous for a 16-year-old to score such a vital goal.

Elisabeth Loisel, France coach
A draw was not enough for us here to qualify but it will be on Sunday. I thought we had scored the winning goal in the final minutes when it was ruled out for offside. In 2001 we were eliminated from this competition because of such a close decision and thankfully this time it hasn't come down to that. We played 4-3-2-1 with a defensive curtain which worked very well. The midfield formation also worked well as we were trying to negate their playmaker Gulbrandsen and stop her playing 40 metre balls. Unfortunately our attackers were not on top form and that cost us. The rhythm was high with action swinging from end to end in two or three passes - that sort of exertion is bound to take its toll late on. Germany don't normally change their team because they have qualified and we will prepare like we would any other game to try to win it.