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Bordinggaard looks back, and forward to final

Denmark coach Keld Bordinggaard spoke to UEFA.com about the hosts' campaign, the players who impressed during his five years in charge and his take on the Switzerland-Spain final.

Denmark coach Keld Bordingaard
Denmark coach Keld Bordingaard ©Sportsfile

Keld Bordinggaard will experience mixed emotions when he watches the UEFA European Under-21 Championship final between Switzerland and Spain in Aarhus on Saturday.

A sense of what might have been, had his Denmark team not been eliminated from the group stage after a three-way tie with Belarus and Iceland, but also pride at the passion whipped up by his team as fans flocked to get behind the hosts. In this interview, the 48-year-old reflects on his five years in charge, his take on the tournament and the final.

UEFA.com: It must have been tough to take, the way the group stage worked out?

Keld Bordinggaard:
Exactly. We came with a wish to perform through forward thinking and we did. We created a lot of open chances, sometimes that's a bad excuse but looking back at the amount of chances, the statistics, this is the explanation why we went out. We've spent a couple of days trying to cope with that but it's tough. We're still very disappointed.

UEFA.com: It must be so frustrating for a coach when the team creates so many chances and cannot take advantage?

Bordinggaard: That's what I'm asking myself right. It's what I was asking myself and my assistants during the games. Is there anything we can do to optimise the opportunities to score? We were both looking at a game where we kept creating open goal chances so if a coach is seeing that you don't want to change things. I honestly think it boils down to a lack of quality with the finishing and that's too bad because we wanted so badly to reach the final and create a great football summer for Denmark – and we were so close.

UEFA.com: Although you have home advantage, being hosts also brings its own challenges with the expectation and lack of competitive matches.

Bordinggaard: Especially after losing the first game, it defines the rest of the tournament for your team and we really had to play the final two games under a lot of pressure. But I was very confident we had the players who could do that and I think we played a very good game against Belarus in Aarhus with a lot of pressure. We were very close at half-time against Iceland but as soon as we went down 1-0 I could see tension building up in the team. Still, we can look back at yet another game with so many open chances that we should have at least tied.

UEFA.com: What advice would you give to the coach of Israel in 2013?

Bordinggaard: Analyse well; make your choices; be persistent; and try to find tournaments where you put your players and your team under pressure. We did that last summer in Toulon. It was a great experience for us but it cannot replicate the pressure you're under in a tournament like this.

UEFA.com: Which players have really come on during your time in charge?

Bordinggaard: I would say one player who is not here, Simon Kjær, is a top international defender who came through. I think we've seen some young players in this squad taking big steps in the right direction: [Nicolai] Boilesen from Ajax did very well in the first two games; I'd like to mention Bashkim Kadrii, he was not acknowledged as one of the big talents but did very well in this tournament; Nicolaj Jørgensen from Leverkusen, he's looking at a bright future if he gets the playing time – he needs to take the next step; and there's obviously Christian Eriksen but he went straight into the A team.

UEFA.com: What was your highlight?

Bordinggaard: One was the game in Aarhus. We felt on the way to this championship that we'd done a lot of things right. And we ended up seeing football fans in Denmark backing us to a degree we didn't imagine before. And even though it didn't take us to the semi-final, I like the way we played forward and I liked our moments with momentum. That's what we were looking for, and I'd say they were the highlights.

UEFA.com: You pushed Switzerland all the way in your opening game, but were frustrated by Yann Sommer and Xherdan Shaqiri at opposite ends of the pitch.

Bordinggaard: I think [coach Pierluigi] Tami has done a great job. He has a concept and added quality players to this and that's why I think they deserve to be in the final. We would have loved to have been there but we have to congratulate Switzerland and Tami with their game. [Sommer and Shaqiri] made the difference in our game, no doubt about that. They can control the game with the ball which is necessary today, and they have the individual quality that can make the difference.

UEFA.com: What about Spain?

Bordinggaard: Possession right now and the ability to control the game is king in Europe. It's growing out of Spain, especially FC Barcelona, and the rest of Europe is thinking right now what can we do. You can say: "OK, let's give up the battle for the ball, let's drop back and give up the battle for the land and let them play the ball," but it's so tiring that you will most likely lose anyway. The other strategy is to attack them, battle for the ball and the land – then they play around you, through you and over you. It's fascinating to watch them the days you are not playing them.

UEFA.com: How do you expect the final to go?

Bordinggaard: I hope that Switzerland will be able to play their game because if they do that they will give Spain some problems, but they have to get hold of the ball to do that and that's always a challenge against Spain.

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