Mixed emotions in Group A

NORTHERN IRELAND 0-1 SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
Zvonko Zivkovic, Serbia and Montenegro
We certainly did as well as we can. Although we had more scoring chances than Northern Ireland, those came from defensive lapses rather than anything we created. We knew this match would be hard for us as we were playing a team who had deserved a better result from their opening match. They were trying very hard to get that result tonight. My players gave their all in the last 35 minutes against Germany, and maybe that was why we reacted slowly tonight. I am happy with two wins from two, especially as both matches were not easy. I like my teams to play well and today we did not play well. Nevertheless, sometimes good teams that have bad matches can still get a positive result.

Mal Donaghy, Northern Ireland
The players' heads are down in the dressing room, but I told them to take comfort from the performance especially given that Serbia and Montenegro defeated Germany 4-2. I can't ask for more from the players. We made five changes and those fresh faces did tremendously well for us. But that doesn't take away from the disappointment of the result. I don't buy into hard luck stories. I am a firm believer that you make your own luck, you cannot rely on anyone else. Now we just have to focus on Saturday.

GREECE 0-3 GERMANY
Nikolaos Nioplias, Greece
We have to congratulate Germany, they played very well, were much better that us throughout the game and deserved to win. We have said from the start that it was difficult for us as we have had only one week's preparation. We have played Germany before, but that was in February when we were in the middle of our league season, so we had prepared very well and could cope with this team. But in our current condition, we could not cope with their speed and technique. If we had not defeated Northern Ireland in our first match, obviously it would now be much harder for us to go on to the semi-finals. I know the problem, and I am very happy and satisfied with my players, because I know what we have achieved in our six months together.

Ulrich Stielike, Germany
To win 3-0 was impressive. What we did for 60 minutes against Serbia and Montenegro we were able to do for 90 here. When we were tired we got behind the ball, what caught us out against the Serbo-Montenegrins were their fast counterattacks and we didn't have that problem today. We were very positive, if you're not positive you can't play football like that. They were ordered to show their quality, and they did that. In practice [on Tuesday], we put the emphasis on having fun, to raise the players' spirits. Greece did not play badly, we were very good and that was the difference. We have one of the best teams here but the problem was that we lost our first game, which put us under tremendous pressure. The players gave the only answer they could today.