Caution pays off for Kolyvanov

Aleksandr Prudnikov, having lost his place in the Russian starting lineup at this UEFA European Under-17 Championship, came off the bench to score the late goal that gave his team a place in Sunday's final against the Czech Republic. Germany had dominated, but could not break through, despite coach Bernd Stöber adopting attacking tactics. But he still feels his team will learn an important lesson from their first defeat in 15 games this season, as his opposite number Igor Kolyvanov comes to term with reaching the final.

Bernd Stöber, Germany coach
Russia won this game because over 80 minutes they defended well and had very good counter play. [Midfielder Mario] Vrancic went off because I thought at that moment I wanted another striker to put more pressure on the Russian defence. Prudnikov made a difference, but it was not only the result of one player, Russia played very well as a team. I always was confident that we would score. As sad as it is sometimes its OK for players to learn what defeat means. And it was time for Germany to learn that lesson.

Igor Kolyvanov, Russia coach
I would like say it was a very difficult game. Germany are a really tough and strong team. Our team was not as well prepared for the finals as we wanted, they were not in good shape. So that is why we chose defensive tactics, to make counterattacks and take every opportunity we have. And the tactics worked, the players achieved every task we set for them. Every team has goalscoring opportunities, some teams take them and some do not. Maybe we had luck, but we did what we wanted. In the previous three games Aleksandr was not in good form and did not do a lot. So against Luxembourg I decided to leave him on the bench. But he didn't feel good then so I told him to prepare for this match for the second half, so he accumulated all his energy and managed to help his team-mates and had a good shot for the goal. Tomorrow we will watch the game between Spain and the Czech Republic and then we will think it over and come to a decision about tactics, but we know it will be difficult.