Neid demands more from Germany

Though pleased to have got through to the UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ semi-finals by beating Italy, Germany coach Silvia Neid felt there was room for improvement from her side and has a major injury concern over defender Ariane Hingst, who was replaced at half-time. Italy coach Pietro Ghedin was philosophical in his team's defeat by the six-time European champions and said the Azzurre were leaving the tournament with their heads held high.

Silvia Neid, Germany coach
It was the game we expected. We know the Italians quite well, we know they can score from out of nothing and that's what they did. Thanks to [goalkeeper] Nadine Angerer we kept it at 2-1; it was a world-class save in the last minute. I'm satisfied with the result but we have to blame ourselves for not keeping up the pressure on the Italian goal. But it worked out and that's the main thing. [Hingst] might have torn a ligament in her knee. We've got two other players who can play in this position – Sonja Fuss and Saskia Bartusiak – and we're waiting for the diagnosis. But, of course, hers would be a major absence; she's the boss in our defence and she's worked hard to get back in the national team. It's not a nice thing, that's for sure. [In the semi-finals] we will have to work better in defence. We had problems with high balls and of course we should score more goals from the chances we have.

Inka Grings, Germany striker & Carlsberg Player of the Match
The priority is the final – we are aiming for the title. If I can play my part by scoring goals, I'm fine with that. My attitude is that the team wins, it's not an individual player who wins the game – I took a pass from Simone [Laudehr] for the second goal. I'm happy with the way things worked out and I hope they continue like that.

Pietro Ghedin, Italy coach
Every time we play against the biggest teams, like Sweden and Germany, we suffer at the start. As time passes, the Italian team grows in confidence and plays better than it does in the first five minutes. Germany played really well, they deserved to win. But the last chance was for us, and their goalkeeper made a great save. In the end, it was not enough. We have only 12,000 women players in Italy and I think Germany have more or less 1,200,000. We have only one national team – Germany could put together 100. That's the biggest difference between us. We're happy to be going out with our heads held high. I'm proud of my team. I think next time we can improve, but over the tournament I think we played well in all four games. If we can improve on our mistakes, we can do better.