Luzon finds positives, Skullerud proud

Guy Luzon, Israel coach
I knew before the start that Norway are a great team. Against the Netherlands in March they played with ten men; although they lost, they showed that they are a strong team. They have good players and I know for sure they will be a great team in this tournament.

I am not satisfied with the way that we played. Even if we had won this match, the thing that matters to me is the way that we played. I want to see my team as an organised team defensively and this did not happen. However, we scored our historic first goal at this tournament so I am satisfied with this. The good thing is that this is the worst match that we have ever played so from here it's going to be better.

This is a great honour for us to host this tournament. We hope that you are satisfied and happy when you see our venues and stadiums. This is fantastic for Israel, not only for the football but for the country as a whole. I'm happy with my starting team. It is the same starting XI that played against Germany, the Netherlands and Russia and they were magnificent in those games but nobody played at the right level today.

I'm not going to talk about this player or another, the team didn't play well because Norway are a great side. One positive is that we played badly but if we scored two goals and got a point then this is a good thing.

Tor Ole Skullerud, Norway coach
I am proud of my team, I think we played a fantastic game. We created lots of chances and could have scored more goals. The performance was excellent, we played the occasion well. We spoke about the opening game, the pressure and how to cope with it and the players did that in a fantastic way. [The late goal] is a fantastic boost for us. We needed one point but deserved three. The fact that we got the goal in the end means everything to us for the next games.

When we were down to ten men it was always going to be difficult but I had hope because I thought until then we were the better side. We played a fantastic first half and we played against the Netherlands in March with ten men and did well so we had done it before. I have great belief in my players and they showed great character. We created enough chances, even in the second half, to win the game.

It would be nice to play like this in the next game but you always have to consider your opponent. It's going to be two tough games against two tough, good teams. It will be a step up from this game but we've played England twice in qualifying stages and we felt that we could have got more out of the games. We lost them both but played very well so I am optimistic.