France eager to face holders

Just under a year since Russia defeated France in the UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship final in Hungary, those two nations meet again on the opening day of this season's tournament in Group B - which also features hosts Switzerland taking on the Netherlands.

Raring to go
Both France coach Stéphane Pilard and Russia's Valentin Grishin are still in place, as are several members of their 2005 squads, and Les Bleuettes are keen to get some measure of revenge in Schaffhausen. "We are very happy to play against them," Pilard told uefa.com. "We are impatient to get going, we have prepared well. I hope we can keep the ball on the deck. But any of the four teams can get through."

Disappointment
Pilard and his side watched their countrymen come so close in the FIFA World Cup final on Sunday at their Winterthur base, and can certainly sympathise with the plight of David Trezeguet and company, as they too lost on spot-kicks in the 2005 decider. "We are very disappointed," Pilard said. "For most of the match France were better than Italy, but it's a final. We know about that from last year - the final is there to win."

Danilova threat
Grishin, meanwhile, believes morale is high in the Russia camp, not least as "Elena Danilova is back, she scored nine goals last time". But he is under no illusions as to the strength of the opposition on Tuesday evening. "Of course it is the final from last year," he added, aware too that when these countries met on the opening day of the 2005 tournament, also in Group B, France won 4-0.

Swiss pride
While the 2005 showpiece is replayed in Schaffhausen - the seventh Franco-Russian encounter in the Women's U19 Championship - about 30km south in Winterthur the hosts tackle the Dutch for the first time in this competition. Switzerland coach Claudio Taddei knows his team have an unparalleled chance to make the semi-finals for the first time. "They are very proud to be playing here in Switzerland," he said. "We hope there are many spectators to help promote women's football in Switzerland. Last year we didn't make the semi-finals but won the fifth-place play-off against England so we are very confident of getting to the last four."

Mehmetaj out
As for their opponents, he added: "I have seen the Dutch but only playing on artificial turf, so not that much. They are a very strong team without great individuals, good in defence." And there has been a late blow for the Swiss up front. "We lost Vlora Mehmetaj for the tournament to a knee injury on Sunday so we will have to make a change."

'Nothing to lose'
The Netherlands have only appeared in the women's U19 finals once before, in 2003, when a 2-1 loss to France ended their campaign at the group stage. As relative newcomers at this level, coach Ed Engelkes feels his charges are not under pressure against the hosts. "It is something to look forward to. We have nothing to lose, whereas Claudio and his team have to perform well and take the initiative," Engelkes said. "We are new to this kind of event and we have to learn. We have had a tough time in recent weeks and had some injuries and some players off form. I was honest and direct about that with them. But we had a good training session after arriving yesterday and they are starting to realise that they are at the European Championship and they have to perform well."