Rivals bask in mutual satisfaction
Sunday, August 30, 2009
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France coach Bruno Bini had no complaints after his side sealed their place in the last eight, while his Norwegian counterpart Bjarne Berntsen was delighted his young side had also advanced.
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Bruno Bini thanked his France side for doing what was necessary to earn a UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ quarter-final berth against the Netherlands and said it would have been "suicide" for him to order his team forward in the closing minutes, as they already held the runners-up slot in Group B that would earn a Thursday encounter with the Netherlands in Tampere. Norway coach Bjarne Berntsen was pleased just to be in the last eight as one of the two best third-placed teams.
Bruno Bini, France coach
I always said that it's only when the dances are over that you pay the orchestra, and now I'd like to thank the girls and the staff for allowing me to dance a while longer. As for the last eight minutes, it wasn't up to us to make the running. Of course, I'd like to be a poet, I'd like to be there up in the clouds but, when it comes down to it, I'm not going to tie the knot in the rope to hang myself by. It's not for us to go and look for a win, so if they don't want to play the last eight minutes, that's their problem. I'm not going to attack, and then hang myself, commit suicide. I don't have the right to do it, and the girls understood that. You have deal with the situation as it is. As for the Netherlands, we've played them twice in friendlies, winning 4-1 away and losing 2-0 at home. Netherlands know exactly how we play and we know exactly how the Netherlands play.
Bjarne Berntsen, Norway coach
It was enough, and I'm very, very satisfied with reaching the quarter-finals with this new, young team. There have been a lot of changes over the last two or three seasons, and I'm proud for the girls. We went for a win and we had a great start, a great goal, and then France was much better than us for the rest of the first half. They were so good that we had to change our formation at the break and be more solid in the middle of the field. In the first half, the three very good French players in the central midfield got too much room and our two central midfielders couldn't stop them. To have a chance in the quarter-finals I think we have to improve our play – especially offensively.