Swiss triumph brings Ryf relief

Coach Claude Ryf was a relieved man after Switzerland scored two late goals to beat Slovenia in the second round of Group A matches at the UEFA European Under-19 Championship, pointing to the dismissal of Slovenia's Dejan Lazarevič as the turning point as his side closed in on the semi-finals. His opposite number Miloš Kostič found positives in defeat, while Ukraine's Yuriy Kalitvintsev believes the draw with England "was not a bad result", a view shared by Brian Eastick. uefa.com hears from the four coaches.

SLOVENIA 1-2 SWIZERLAND
Claude Ryf, Switzerland coach
We were very lucky; normally we'd lose that game. My players were very nervous. A European Championship is a big thing for us but we are able to play better football than we showed today. For us, the lucky [thing] is that Slovenia made a big mistake with the red card. The players were experiencing some difficulties and we needed something positive. Suddenly the red card was that; it was the difference. Slovenia were very intelligent and it's not easy to score two goals against them even when they have ten men, so for me the fact we did is the only positive from today. For the third game we must be 20 or 30 per cent better otherwise we have no chance.

Miloš Kostič, Slovenia coach
In the first half, we had some troubles in the middle but with some correction, we started the second half much better. We had some good opportunities to score more goals. We hit the [woodwork] twice and played very well until my player was sent off and then we conceded two goals in a way we didn't expect. They came from long balls, 70 metres behind our defence, and it was a mistake from our defensive line. After the first goal it was very difficult to play; once Switzerland scored they became very confident and it was very difficult to close all the gaps. We conceded a second goal, I can't say anything to my players about their effort and will to play but I can about loss of concentration. After a game like that it's very difficult to say something because you have everything in your hands – I don't think we deserved to lose.

UKRAINE 2-2 ENGLAND
Yuriy Kalitvintsev, Ukraine coach
Of course we wanted to win, but a draw isn't a bad result. I'd like to thank my players for their quality although not for the result. This changes nothing in the section and we'll be preparing very seriously for the match with Switzerland. I had to replace Sergii Shevchuk because he was injured and Kyrylo Petrov asked to come off because he had no more energy, but everyone who played tonight had a good game. They all played well, and we were the better team in the second half.

Brian Eastick, England coach
Once the game went to 2-2, we didn't manage it very well, we didn't stay compact enough and it could have cost us dearly. The important thing is that this group is going to go right to the wire. Us and Ukraine need to win our last game so there is everything to play for. When we went 2-1 up I thought we could go on and win the game but it wasn't to be and from the last 15 minutes Ukraine will feel disappointed they didn't win it. Over the 90 minutes a draw was a fair result.