Berntsen to protect young Norway hero

Bjarne Berntsen has vowed to shield 18-year-old Cecilie Pedersen from the spotlight after she marked her first start for Norway, just eight days after her senior debut, by scoring the winner on the stroke of half-time against Iceland in UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ Group B to get her side off the mark. Iceland coach Siggi Eyjólfsson could not fault his players, who now have no chance of progressing to the quarter-finals.

Bjarne Berntsen, Norway coach
It changed my team-talk because in the first 15 minutes we were a little bit lucky Iceland didn't score on two occasions but I felt in the last 30 minutes of the half it was very equal. We were becoming better and better and delivered two or three great crosses which very nearly resulted in a goal. For sure, it changed the game when we struck right before half-time.

It was Cecilie's first start, she's only 18 and plays in the third tier in Norway [for Avaldsnes IL]. She has a very good record with the under-19s and that's why we picked her, even though she doesn't play at the highest level. We had a very good discussion involving the whole coaching team before we actually decided what was the best team to start with, and before the game I just told her that four months ago nearly nobody had heard of her in Norway and she wasn't even dreaming of coming to the tournament here in Finland. Now it's like a dream come true for her and we have to take care of her because she is so young. We know that to secure a place in the quarter-finals we have to beat France [on Sunday].

Siggi Eyjólfsson, Iceland coach
It's the absolute worst time to concede a goal, the last seconds of the first half, so it was tough coming in at half-time because we started off really bright and created some good chances. We played OK in the first half and in the second half we played much better, so after the match I have to be pleased with the effort that my players gave. We are the underdog in this tournament. We are playing the best teams in Europe and are in a very tough group so I have to be fairly pleased with the team even though we wanted to win of course.

I told the players that we can't be too disappointed because we've got a match in three days [against Germany]. I told them I was pleased with the effort they gave in the second half when we managed to put Norway under some pressure. Unfortunately we couldn't score but as a coach you have to be pleased with your players when they give you everything they've got and I think my team did that in the second half. We tried a few things [to equalise], we took a defender off and put on a forward, changing the formation to 3-5-2, but Norway defended well and they've got a very good, well organised team.

Congratulations to them because they played well today. The tournament is a great learning experience for my players, we are competing for the first time on the big stage, so this will be an experience which they can recall later on and it will help them become better. Now we can see where we stand against the best teams in Europe and I know my players are ambitious enough to want to improve and to be as good or better than the players here in the future.