Denmark and Wales see room for improvement
Monday, August 19, 2013
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Wales coach Jarmo Matikainen spoke of pride and disappointment after his side, finals debutants, were beaten 1-0 by a Denmark team ultimately satisfied but with work to do.
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Jarmo Matikainen, Wales coach
I'm really proud with the players' performance. It was our first ever final tournament game and one of the main things we emphasised in our preparation is that we don't play the event, we play the game; we don't play our opponent, we play our own game – the things we have strong in our game and what we're all about, we stick to those. I'm really pleased with our girls' performance.
Of course I am disappointed with the result – particularly when we conceded from a set piece. I felt that we kept them at bay for the full 90 minutes more or less and we were defensively solid. But that's final tournament football and a learning curve for us: we have to stay focused in every situation. We defended extremely well and the girls worked their socks off. But when we had the ball we gave it away too easily. We had a chance to keep the ball at the back and look for a better way forward but we were a bit hasty.
We should have kept the ball better and we will learn from that because it's part of the learning process for the national teams and our player pathway in general. We've got to be able to have better possession which means better passes, better first touch, stronger shielding the ball and working with the other players.
Søren Randa-Boldt, Denmark coach
It's good to get the three points. We need to up our game to beat France next time out and then England. Wales were good, but we knew they would be – many of the players have played in the senior national team for a long time. We knew it would be a hard game but we scored after an hour so we avoided a few nerves.
We practise our corners and free-kicks, but they don't look much like that [leading to the only goal]. It was a little move, but Wales were standing badly on this set piece; it was good play by the girls. It was important to win because [next opponents] France are a very strong team so you have to beat Wales ... and England.
We played too slowly today for most of the game. Sometimes it was very good but most of the game it was far too slow. It was the opening match and there were a few spectators ...
