Holders stand in France's way again

France have vengeance in mind as they prepare for their UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship semi-final against Germany almost a year to the day after Maren Meinert's team beat them 3-0 to claim the title in Switzerland.

'Motivation'
Football has a habit of pairing up teams not long after contesting a major final. Just 59 days elapsed between Italy's penalty shoot-out victory against France in the 2006 FIFA World Cup final and the sides meeting again in UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying, as Les Bleus helped alleviate some of the pain of defeat with a 3-1 triumph. Stéphane Pilard's charges have had to wait much longer – a year and four days to be exact – but after qualifying second in Group B they now have their chance. "We are happy to play Germany again," said the coach. "It will be a good motivation for us as last year we lost and we know we can do better. We will be more determined this time around."

Excitement
Both teams count six survivors of the Berne final in their current squads, including Germany twins Isabel and Monique Kerchowski who between them accounted for all three goals in the final 12 months ago, the former scoring twice. The holders have been similarly imperious in Iceland, coasting through Group A with a 100 per cent record, though Meinert is taking nothing for granted. "I'm excited," she said. "We have two good teams in this semi-final, teams that play attacking football. France have a really good team and we will have to be at our very best to beat them but it's the semi-final and nobody knows who will go through to the final - it makes it very interesting."

Improved
Those who watched France's first two fixtures would think that a generous assessment as Pilard's team struggled to meet the high expectations many had set for them before the tournament. They needed a late goal from Amandine Henry to earn an opening-day victory against Spain before being brought back to earth with a 3-1 defeat by England. Requiring a win from their final fixture to guarantee progress, however, they stepped up a gear as Charlotte Amaury and Marie-Laure Delie helped sweep aside Poland 4-0 and Pilard is confident that Les Bleuettes can pick up where they left off. "Germany were stronger last year but our players are better now," he said. "One team will go home after Thursday - hopefully not us."

Meinert pride
The two teams met in La Manga in March, Delie scoring twice as France claimed a morale-boosting 2-0 victory yet Germany have prevailed in all three meetings between the sides in the finals and Meinert is happy to focus on those, saying: "It's a similar situation to last year. We came here as one of the favourites and were the first team through to the semi-finals, beating all three of our group opponents. Now it is France but whatever the final score, I'll go away pleased with how we've played here."