Coaches united in pride for players

Germany coach Maren Meinert lauded her side's resilience after they recovered from squandering a two-goal lead to beat France 4-2 in extra time of an absorbing semi-final. She was keen to give Les Bleuettes "all the credit I can" after a sterling performance that left their coach, Stéphane Pilard, feeling a mixture of pride and disappointed, complaining "we always lose like this".

Maren Meinert, Germany coach
When we scored the second goal we almost felt like we had won but then they came straight back and scored and from then on France were the better team. We came into it again in extra time, though, and I have to compliment my players for that: when you are two-up and concede two goals, it's not easy to recover. I haven't seen this before. I have seen the side come from behind but not lose a two-goal lead, nor play extra time, so I'm pleased with how well they handled it. It was a tight game and maybe we were a bit lucky in the game. I give France all the credit I can as they are a great team and did so well today.

Stéphane Pilard, France coach
I'm disappointed. It's always difficult to win at this stage, especially against Germany but they were no better than us this year. It was a close game - we could have won, they could have won - it was 50:50. When we brought it back to 2-2 we were stronger and had one or two opportunities to take the lead. Marie-Laure [Delie] hit the bar and I thought that the next time it would go inside the woodwork. I'm very proud of my players. It is the best match of the tournament so far and at a higher level than we're used to playing. They showed everyone we can play good football but then the result is the same: we always lose like this.