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Serbia discipline delights Govedarica

Serbia coach Dejan Govedarica pointed to the way "we kept Turkey away from our goal" as the key factor in the 2-0 victory that put his side in command of Group B.

Serbia celebrate their win against Turkey
Serbia celebrate their win against Turkey ©Sportsfile

Serbia coach Dejan Govedarica praised his side's discipline and focus after they struck an early blow in UEFA European Under-19 Championship Group B with a 2-0 victory against Turkey in Berceni. With the Spain-Belgium match delayed until Thursday due to adverse weather conditions, Govedarica's side are out in front in the section, while the beaten Kemal Özdeş knows Turkey must put their game plan into action to stay in the competition.

SERBIA 2-0 TURKEY
Dejan Govedarica, Serbia coach

It was a good, tough game – we had the luck to take our chances. I have to be satisfied, particularly with the second half when we switched the ball really quickly from one side to the other. That brought us several chances so that's what won it for us really.

The first goal wasn't decisive as Turkey also had some chances, but we didn't let them create much, we kept them away from our goal. After the first goal we had more chances on the counterattack and eventually the second came that way. Turkey are a very good team, I think they can improve on today and match Belgium and Spain – and for the rest of the competition.

Kemal Özdeş, Turkey coach
We didn't play how we planned to – we didn't play very well at all. We hoped to make life difficult for our opponents but when we went forward we lost the ball and unfortunately we conceded two goals. This wasn't the result we expected. We were playing well in the second half when we conceded the opening goal and that had an extraordinarily negative effect on our play. We were missing several players and we didn't show the spectators how we can play.

Serbia tried to play together although they don't really have outstanding individuals. They're a united team and they get the ball wide. All eight countries at this tournament are very good teams and have plenty of qualities; they're at an equal level and any of them can beat each other.

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