Hosts and Ukraine lead the way

ITALY 0-1 UKRAINE
Paolo Berettini, Italy
It is a very disappointing defeat. We did not get our approach to the game right in the first half especially, we did not play very well. After half-time we conceded the goal, then made several chances, but we were not clever enough to finish off these chances and equalise. Ukraine are a fine side - I have nothing to say against their win. From experience, I know that you have to have temperament and character to go all the way, perhaps we are missing just a little bit of that.

Pavlo Yakovenko, Ukraine
Obviously we are very happy to have won, it is a positive result - but we also have to be realistic, because it was not without luck. When we were 1-0 up, the Italians had several good moments and they were better than us in the latter part of the second half, but they did not score. Italy have a strong squad, but on the whole I think we played better and deserved to win overall. Our goal is to produce players for the Under-21 and national teams, but our goal with this team is also to win matches.

SWITZERLAND 2-0 BELGIUM
Pierre-André Schürmann, Switzerland
I am satisfied with the quality of my team's performance against very strong opponents. These are the type of matches coaches and players love, and it is good for the Swiss public that we performed well. We produced an organised, disciplined performance and took risks, but were still very solid. I think this is a very good sign, both for the rest of this tournament and for the long-term future. Before the match, I asked for more movement in attack than against Italy, and I think we saw that. I introduced [Guilherme] Afonso in attack as he was fresh and had a different style of play, one that caused problems for Belgium, but I think this is a team victory, not that of just one person.

Marc Van Geersom, Belgium
Switzerland deserved to win, they were the better side tonight. We defended well, but our problems were in attack, as we struggled to create chances. We played the Swiss last year and lost, so we knew that they were a very strong side and we were not surprised by them. There was more power in the Swiss team, and both full-backs in particular were very good. We changed two of our three forwards to try to freshen up our strike force as some of our players were tired, but Switzerland have a very good defence and their physical strength is impressive. But this competition is not finished, and we have to lift ourselves for Sunday's game and remember that we can still finish third in this section and qualify for the [FIFA] World Youth Championship next year.