Group A coaches target strong start

The 8th UEFA European Under-19 Championship kicks off in Ukraine on Tuesday and the coaches of the four sides that will contest Group A are only too aware of the importance of starting well.

Solid start
Of the eight teams who reached the semi-finals in the last two summers, only one – Italy last year – failed to win their first game, so the stakes could hardly be higher as England and Switzerland open the tournament at the Metalurg Stadium before the hosts take on first-time qualifiers Slovenia at the RSC Olympiyskiy Stadium. "A good start is very important. It may sound negative but it's very important not to lose your first game," said England coach Brian Eastick, whose side lost to the Czech Republic on Matchday 1 in 2008. "Last year we did and it made it very hard for us to qualify. All the teams will be trying not to lose their first game and if you can win it, all the better because it gives you momentum."

'Gain ten years'
Eastick's team launch their campaign against a Switzerland side who have not appeared in this competition since getting to the 2004 semi-finals on home soil. However, despite the achievement of a fine qualifying bid that included a win against Spain, Switzerland coach Claude Ryf is keen to play down expectations – reiterating "we are a small country" at the pre-finals press conference. "It's already a great success for us to be here," he added. "The next game is the target and we hope we'll get a good result. But for me, the objective is to make my players better and get good experience here. These tournaments teach the players about football. They gain ten years in experience here."

'Big privilege'
Local temperatures have reached 37C but while Eastick and Ryf pointed to the heat as a major factor, Slovenia's Miloš Kostič had no trouble keeping his cool ahead of his team's U19 finals debut. "It's a big privilege for Slovenia to get to the last eight of the tournament but we came here to prove something, we came here wanting to win," said the 37-year-old, whose side gained fine results against Russia and Belarus in qualifying. "Teams from this region play a similar way to us, so we like to play against them and we'll go out to beat them. Ukraine have a small advantage over other teams because they'll have a lot of fans, but maybe that can motivate us to give more than 100 per cent. It will be very difficult, Ukraine are a strong team, technically very good and very quick, but we'll fight until the end."

Calm intent
Throughout the press conference the trophy was on display to remind the four coaches, if they needed it, of the prize on offer at the RSC Olympiyskiy Stadium on 2 August. Ukraine coach Yuriy Kalitvintsev was asked about quotes attributed to Football Federation of Ukraine president Grigoriy Surkis about the hosts' prospects, replying with a smile: "If the president thinks we must win, then we must win. I put our chances at 100 per cent." He was similarly concise about the reasoning behind his finals selection: "We've agreed on 90 per cent of our team, there's only one or two positions to discuss. We could pick only 18 players and we had to choose the best – and I think they will be the best."