'Gallant' England not good enough, says Powell

Bruno Bini, France coach
We are satisfied, of course, firstly because we won, and then because of the goals and finally because we played the way we said we would. We respected the game. We didn't give up on anything because we are here to win games.

I had told the girls that this third game will set the tone for the new competition that starts now. There are three more matches now. It was important to win today. It allowed us to rest some players. You could see that when one girl comes in, nothing changes. It's not going to help me in my choice, but these are rich people's problems. My bench is really good so we have a choice. We'll see how it goes in the next two or three days.

We might have left a mark on people's minds, but we're entering a new competition. It's the knockout stage now. Tonight, with this win, we got a lot of confidence. It's not easy for the players when you're already qualified. It's similar to when you play the league and there's a Champions League game coming. You're scared of getting injured. However, the girls didn't play with the brakes on. What a nice squad we have.

Hope Powell, England coach
We did better, we came out of the blocks and really had a go. A gallant effort by the girls right until the end, unfortunately not enough. A lot of credit to France, a very good team in all departments and they were just too much for us.

We've just been knocked out of a European Championship, so we're bitterly disappointed. I'll take time to digest and reflect, but the natural reaction is one of disappointment. I think you have to recognise there are some good teams here. We didn't play our best but France and Spain are two very good teams who have progressed over the years. Our job now is to try and stay with them. We struggled in the tournament, we just didn't click, we put in some brave efforts but weren't good enough. I'm not going to make excuses. We had injuries in the build-up, but I feel we picked our best players available.

After each game we always reflect, checking we are doing everything we possibly can to help the players achieve what they want to achieve. In my job, we've got the U19s next month, we want to do well in that, it is important our youth teams do well, they are the future of English football, then we go again in September [in FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying].

We think the preparations were spot on in terms of the opposition we had, the camp itself. It is just on the day we weren't good enough. We didn't perform against Russia, weren't at our best against Spain and tonight it was a gallant effort against a very good side. I'm very proud of the players, proud of the staff, we came with the best intentions but we have to accept we weren't quite good enough.