Pellerud salutes Norway's history makers

Even Pellerud, Norway coach
Although the result is not that important because we were both through to the quarter-finals anyway, it's a really good feeling because we saw Germany really wanted to win. They picked their strongest team while we had a lot of inexperienced players, some of whom had never played together before.

So you go into the game with a lot of question marks as a coach. From the outside it might look a bit of a gamble, but it wasn't. It's also my job to make plans for the future and this game gave me the chance to look at other players in a situation that would not be fatal to us.

I was pleased with every player. It was hard work built on a defensive structure, pressure on the ball and players being responsible, because at some point Germany would put pressure on us – and they did. But we had a calmness to stop them, so I'm very proud of the team.

I keep hearing that Germany have not lost many matches in this tournament and it's no fun to destroy the history of a good team, but, at the same time, we have to think of our own history and our own record and I'm very proud to be the coach of these great players.

Yes, I have a dilemma now about the team for the next match, but it is a good dilemma. We have an extra day now before our quarter-final and every day is important. Even though some players had a rest today or only played a partial game, the extra day's preparation is really appreciated.

Silvia Neid, Germany coach
We deserved to lose and I agree that Germany can't be considered favourites to win this tournament anymore. Had I been watching this match from the outside, I would have said you could definitely beat this team.

We could not find much at all in the first half. There was no pace, we did not look for shots on target, players on the left and right did not come up and there were only one or two players who wanted to have the ball when we moved forwards.

In the second half we tried to roll our sleeves up, but still we didn't have the impression that there was a situation when everything was going right in terms of timing, in terms of passing.

It was a little bit of everything out there, the lack of important players, the temperature, the tiredness that we talked about before. But the players have to learn to fight themselves into such a match, that there are days when things don't go your way and you have to deal with the situation and stand up to it. It's a question of age, but also of a lack of experience.

What I liked today was that in the second half we showed we weren't going to give in to our destiny, we tried to change things. But, generally speaking, I'm glad we've got four points and qualified for the quarter-finals.

We will carry out a deep analysis of this match and I will also have some questions for the players. They have to make their own analysis of the game too and be ready mentally and physically for the Italy match as soon as possible.