Blaquart breathes sigh of relief

France revived their UEFA European Under-17 Championship hopes with a fine comeback to beat Germany in Group A, to the relief of their coach François Blaquart. Spain, who had already got a win against France, are three points clear, meanwhile, after defeating Ukraine 3-1 with coach Juan Santisteban stating they are "on course".

FRANCE 2-1 GERMANY
François Blaquart, France coach
I think we have seen a very good match at Under-17 level, from two excellent teams. We were better than we were against Spain, as we know the Germans well, having played them four times in the past two years. In the first half I had the feeling there was a lot of space, especially on the wings, but we failed to make use of that. Now it is not an exact science, but in the second half we became much more dangerous because we did use that space and I felt that the Germans got tired towards the end. All in all I can say I am very happy and relieved with this excellent result, which brings us back in the race again, as we seemed to be out already after the first match.

Paul Schomann, Germany coach
Obviously we are very disappointed to have lost this match, after having led 1-0. I think the teams were equally matched, and the match developed into a very high tempo, and it is logical that because of that tempo mistakes are made. In the first half we played to an excellent tempo, but in the second we were not really in the match any more, and the French played very well, and because of that they deserved to win. We could not keep the ball and the equaliser was just a matter of time. With a little bit of luck at 1-1 we still could have won, that is why I gave some signals with a double substitution but the French proved to be better today. Again, it is very disappointing, as with a win we would have reached the semi-finals.

SPAIN 3-1 UKRAINE
Juan Santisteban, Spain coach
We didn't manage to keep the pressure on like we did in the first match because of the short amount of recovery time between the two matches. But I am very happy with my players' effort and I hope we can keep playing like this for the rest of the tournament. Our goal was to finish among the first five and go to the [FIFA U-17] World Cup, and we are already on course for that. We might give some players a rest in the next match [but] with 48 hours' rest time before then, I am sure they will be OK.

Yuriy Kalitvintsev, Ukraine coach
We knew enough before this match to know how powerful the Spanish team is so we were well prepared for that. But in the game we made some decisive mistakes, and in doing so you will lose against a team like Spain. We are all in this tournament to learn, and we've learned some important lessons already. Maybe we can do better in the third match, which we will do everything to win. I congratulate Spain and hope they'll still be playing in Belgium on 13 May.