Krisztián Németh (left) celebrates his second-leg opener with Jan Polák (©Sportsfile)Coaches praise African improvement
Thursday, 1 March 2007
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PrintAfrica Under-18 Selection head coach Frederick Osam-Duodu and his Europe counterpart Iñaki Sáez believe, despite Europe's 4-0 second-leg victory in the UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup which completed a 10-1 aggregate success, that there are plenty of positive signs for the vanquished side in Barcelona.
Frederick Osam-Duodu, Africa coach
I'm satisfied because in football, you win some and lose some. Just because you lose doesn't mean you haven't played well, and we played well today. There was a big improvement in the team and I'm pleased with everything apart from the result. The boys have come together and got to know each other this week, and the spirit and fraternity they have shown is really pleasing. We improved so much from the first game; experience counts in such competitions and my boys are all still junior players, so when they have the ball sometimes they make mistakes. But we've shown today the improvement we can make in just two days; if you got these boys together for a period of several months, they would be big players and a good team.
Iñaki Sáez, Europe coach
It was much more difficult than the first game; Africa were much better organised today and our side was a bit top-heavy. We had lots of attacking players and their instinct is always to go forward, so we were tempted to play too many long balls which played into their hands as the African defenders were very strong in the air. They had the first two chances of the match and also hit the crossbar, so they certainly had opportunities, and it was more even and competitive than the first game although I still thought the final scoreline was an accurate reflection of the game. I've got to know my players well this week. You see these players at [UEFA] European Under-17 Championship tournaments and don't really pay much attention to them as they are in the opposition, but there are some very good players in this squad.
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