Stuivenberg proud but Böger shell-shocked
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
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"Here sits a very proud coach," said Albert Stuivenberg after dramatically winning a second successive Under-17 title by beating Germany, whose coach, Stefan Böger, was "shocked".
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Netherlands coach Albert Stuivenberg was the picture of happiness in the press conference after his side dug deep to come back from a goal down and beat Germany on penalties. The win earned Stuivenberg consecutive UEFA European Under-17 Championship trophies, both at the expense of Germany, who were also on the end of a 5-2 defeat by the Jong Oranje last year. Germany coach, Stefan Böger, could not believe his team's bad luck at conceding the 81st-minute equaliser.
Albert Stuivenberg, Netherlands coach
I think we played a very good first half, we controlled the game and created a very good chance, and I don't think Germany created very much. In the second half it was a different match – they scored quickly after the break, and it was difficult for us to find an opening. The players got a little tired, but in the end we kept faith and in the last second our hard work paid off.
That situation also gave us a lot of confidence going into penalties, which we had also practised, but you can never know with them. I must say that we took them very well, giving the goalkeeper no chance – and of course, one was stopped by our keeper and that's why I'm smiling!
Stefan Böger, Germany coach
The whole team, myself, my staff and the players are shocked. Everyone who knows football understands that a goal at such a point in the match brings you down. It is my job now to lift everybody up again. I have to congratulate the Netherlands. They have had a good tournament, but I also thought that we had a very good tournament. We had bad luck at the last minute.
I am very proud of my guys. We are still unbeaten and it was just bad luck. The first half was a very tactical game – both teams had a lot of respect for each other, there weren't a lot of chances. In the second half we fought into the game and we scored but without a good finish. We are clearly very disappointed, but the whole tournament was a great experience and maybe someday in the career of the players they will get to do it again.
