Mixed emotions as proud Wales bow out

Jarmo Matikainen, Wales manager
I've got to say that I was really happy with the girls' performance until we conceded the goal, I felt we were well in the game. England caused most of the problems for us from the quick counterattacks and set pieces, we knew they would: that's their game. And then still, at 1-0 we were well in the game; we just didn't have the legs and unfortunately today we got no support from the bench – the substitutions really didn't have an impact as I was hoping.

I think that in many respects we probably played even better than England in certain areas. Passing and keeping the ball – I was really happy with that because that's the area where I feel we just need to improve as a football nation. I was quite pleased with the girls' confidence and the quality of the passing – it kept us well in the game; at some points, even in control of the game. I was very proud of our girls' approach – they've been brave, they've been positive. We just didn't have enough so we just have to get back to the training pitch and continue the work.

Everyone has been so professional, everyone has worked so hard and we owe it to ourselves and to this tournament that we play our best game [against France]. Regardless of the fatigue, regardless of the fact we won't go to the semi-finals, this has been a fantastic adventure. We owe it to the fantastic fans that were here. We'll approach the next two days as professionally as we have done so far. You don't get a better benchmark and better opponent than France.

Mo Marley, England manager
We knew it was going to be difficult. Obviously we had scouts at the Denmark-Wales game, and we knew we'd have to work really hard and be creative, that we'd have to play a little bit smarter than we normally do. We thought they played exceptionally well; they made it really difficult for Denmark to break them down. I think we were quite naive in the first half. We started well, but into the second half we got a little bit frustrated, had a lot of the ball but didn't use the ball very wisely.

Before the second half we said [to the players]: 'You've got to play a bit smarter, you've got to play a bit quicker, you've got to play with each other and off each other.' That's was probably the significant difference – the fact that we calmed them down and said, you know: 'If you want to be successful you've got to face any challenge that is in your way.' I think we grew into the game and by the end of the game we started to flourish a little bit.

I think we were a different team [after the opening goal]. The minute the goal went in I think they had a bit of belief about themselves – that's youth football really. We've got to have that mind set whether we've scored or we haven't scored, because it stifled our game a little bit, we were anxious. Then obviously the cushion of the second goal, it's a completely different game for us. We can then let the ball do the work and we're not playing with haste. We grew into the game and I think we had extra belief then once the first goal went in.