Hrubesch hails persistent Germany

Germany coach Horst Hrubesch praised his team for overcoming a shaky first-half performance to go on and beat Italy in their Helsingborg semi-final. If Hrubesch's charges rode their luck before regaining a foothold in the game, Pierluigi Casiraghi said good fortune was the only element missing from his side's display – the Azzurrini having hit the woodwork in their 1-0 defeat.

Horst Hrubesch, Germany coach
We really wanted it tonight. What makes me particularly happy is the way we dominated the second half. We were really compact, meaning Italy could only try long balls which our defenders mopped up as they were keeping the Italian forwards in check. First half, we made some mistakes and Italy could have scored from all the corners they had. However, the boys knew it was going to be a close match and that's what they got.

To begin with we were causing problems for ourselves by giving the ball back to the opposition when we were trying to launch attacks. So the Italians were regaining possession too easily. Our mistakes allowed them to build momentum and we were also having problems in one-on-one situations around the box. I was a bit angry about our careless mistakes but in the end we got Italy doing exactly what we wanted them to do.

The team looked happy to be out on the pitch. They were calm, flexible and could really have sealed the victory much earlier than they did. Manuel Neuer, our goalkeeper, had a lot of long-range shots to deal with, but he handled them superbly when you consider how these balls move. I have confidence in this group as they've been with me for a few years now and I know all their capabilities.

Pierluigi Casiraghi, Italy coach
We played really well. We were excellent from the beginning and I'd have to say I am happy and proud of my players. We just couldn't get the goal and that happens sometimes in football, but overall we showed that we are an excellent team. I really haven't got anything bad to say, because we created the chances tonight, we played attacking football, and we hit the post a number of times. Sometimes they go in for you, but tonight we didn't get the rub.

While we played at a really high level in the first half, making lots of opportunities, I think we continued to play good football after half-time and were still in control of the game. A lack of concentration led to their goal but that can happen – it was also a great shot and you have to remember that these balls are really difficult to save too. Unfortunately the ball didn't move quite as much for us. We were playing against a German team made up of Bundesliga players and they were never going to make it easy for us. It was also our fourth game of the tournament, yet we still kept a high level throughout.