Angerer earns Neid praise as Pellerud reflects
Sunday, July 28, 2013
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Germany coach Silvia Neid praised penalty hero Nadine Angerer "for the hard work she did during the winter break", while Norway's Even Pellerud congratulated the final victors.
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Silvia Neid, Germany coach
Of course it's a great feeling, especially as many didn't expect us to win this title. We started in a shaky manner in this tournament and we fought our way back. We had a decent match against Iceland and a bad match against Norway in the group stage, but from the quarter-finals on we found our way both defensively and offensively. I'm very happy to have won this title with this young team.
Regarding [the half-time introduction of] Anja Mittag, I wanted to put a little bit more pressure on her wing and wanted to introduce some routine to the match, but I also wanted someone who could work defensively. She had lots of confidence, especially after the match against Sweden. With Bianca Schmidt, Simone Laudehr was very tired and I wanted to bring on reinforcements for counterattacks but also have a strong defence on that side.
I met Nadine Angerer in November and we had a long conversation. We said that fitness is important if you want to be a good goalkeeper and we both agreed on that. We met in February and she had worked hard during the winter break. You could see that she was much better when it came to her ability to jump and physical flexibility. This tournament and this match are the reward for the hard work she did during the winter break.
Right now I just feel good. I don't feel exhausted at all, quite the opposite. This tournament has made me ten years younger, working with these young players, who've shown passion, who've shown character. So I feel really good, but we'll have to see how I feel tomorrow after our party.
I told my team at half-time to play a little bit differently – with more power, more passion, be more compact, show more courage, and I think we showed in some situations that we finally played with more pace. The goal was the result of that.
Anja has developed a lot since she went to Sweden. She's gained a lot of confidence; she's an important player with [FC] Malmö, she's scored a lot of goals, and this has helped her with the national team. In 2011, she wasn't in the [FIFA Women's World Cup] squad because she was not in good condition. This time she was, and when she's in condition she'll always be an important player in the national team.
It's a very nice title but just as much as the others, like the first one in '89 for example. It's special in a way because so many young players were involved in the team. We've grown together over these days, not just the players and coaches but the rest of the staff as well. That's a very heart-warming feeling and for that reason this tournament and this title mean something special to me.
Even Pellerud, Norway coach
First of all, I want to give my hearty congratulations to the Germany team. They played a fantastic game. I think we also played a very strong game. It must also have been quite entertaining because there was a lot of action in the boxes. The spectators and media seem to like that, more so than coaches. That said, it was a very even game. It was back and forth: balls landing on the bar, balls on the post, a penalty missed, a penalty missed again, a goal disallowed – very intense.
I'm really happy with the match we played. Going into game, I wasn't sure what I could expect from my players, but they had juice in their legs, and they squeezed everything out. They even managed to dominate big parts of the second half. We managed to get them to a good fitness level, which was one of the main areas I focused on when I started in January, in order to close the gap with the best teams in the world. We've had success with that, and also with developing new players from the youth ranks.
This is not the time to blame anyone or think too much about [the missed penalties]. Sometimes you score, sometimes you don't. The timing of missing them was not good for us but very good for Germany.
There a quite a few veterans on the team who are regular starters. We haven't talked thoroughly with them about their future but that time has to come. We have World Cup qualifiers in September, so we have discussions to have, but all the veterans who played here are qualified. Their attitude is excellent.