Coaches sum up play-off tasks
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
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The coaches of Scotland and the Netherlands are predicting a tight tie while Italy's Antonio Cabrini described Ukraine as "an emerging side" after the play-off draw.
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The last of Europe's eight FIFA Women's World Cup finals slots will be filled by the play-off winners over the next two months and the four contenders learned their fate in Tuesday's draw. UEFA.com rounds up the reaction.
• Play-off draw
Semi-finals: 25/26 & 29/30 October
Scotland v Netherlands
Italy v Ukraine
Final: 22/23 & 26/27 November
Scotland/Netherlands v Italy/Ukraine
Scotland v Netherlands
Anna Signeul, Scotland manager
It didn't really matter whether we got the Netherlands or Italy as we will need to beat them both if we are to progress to the finals. Both teams have different skills but in terms of ability they are both similar. Playing at home first has pluses and minuses. It gives us a chance to get a good start, but it's always good to have the second leg at home. I wouldn't say we are favourites but I think we have a great chance of going through.
Roger Reijners, Netherlands coach
I did not have a favourite draw between Scotland or Ukraine, but these are excellent opponents. Scotland have a strong team who are in development. The only narrowly missed the previous EURO tournament. We have played them a lot already, so we know the team well. It promises to become a nice battle.
Italy v Ukraine
Antonio Cabrini, Italy coach
Ukraine are an emerging side at European level; they are improving every year and have great quality in their squad. They finished second in their group and that says it all on how competitive they are. However I think we can compete with any team and I'm sure we will be in better physical condition in October, we will be stronger. We are not at our very best right now but I think we can be in time for the play-offs. We have to prepare ourselves as well as we can.