Greece desire delights Tsanas
Thursday, July 12, 2012
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According to coach Kostas Tsanas, Greece's "great effort" was the decisive factor in his team reaching Sunday's final, leaving Noel Blake to bemoan England's decision-making.
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Noel Blake, England coach
I'm actually lost for words that we've lost that game. We started really well and played some really good football but possibly didn't threaten their goal enough. As the game wore on we started to create chances and we had some really good ones – and as the saying goes, goals change games. Once the first goal went in, they decided to play behind the ball and that's no problem – but I'm disappointed that we've lost and [with] the way we've lost it.
In the final analysis we needed to make better decisions in the final third. We didn't always make the right ones, and that was a factor in us losing the game. We've played quite well at times [in the tournament] but I feel we haven't hit top form. As the tournament's gone on we've got better and today was probably our best performance in terms of what we did with the ball, but it wasn't to be.
We came here with several objectives and we've achieved a few of them: to qualify for the [FIFA U-20] World Cup, which we did, to get out of the group, which we did. We didn't quite make it into the final; we've had a few players who are in the U21s and a few injuries, so to reach the semi-final augurs well for the future.
Kostas Tsanas, Greece coach
I am truly happy for this group of players – they put in a great effort and it's a deserved win. We've beaten a really good team and that makes the joy even bigger. The decisive moments were the red card, the penalty save from our substitute goalkeeper and our will to play for 75 minutes with ten players. That's why we are so satisfied and pleased.
England are a very strong team with great players who are tactically excellent – that makes our win even better. It gives us more joy. When we went down to ten players we had to defend, of course, but when we had 11 we scored. We had the lead with ten players and we went back in front with ten players as well.
Under those conditions, getting to the final is a huge achievement. It was a very tough game, we gave our best and it was a really good effort from us.
