UEFA European U-19 C’ship: Skullerund savours Norway success

UEFA

July 20 2005

/noticias.info/ Norway hold the upper hand in UEFA European Under-19
Championship Group B following the first round of matches on Monday,
having defeated Armenia in Lurgan. Goals midway through each half
from Karim Aoudia and Vidar Nisja rewarded an impressive Norwegian
display against the first-time qualifiers. At The Oval in Belfast,
meanwhile, England took the lead against France thanks to Matthew
Fryatt’s early strike, only for Abdoulaye Balde to restore parity.
uefa.com rounds up the coaches’ reaction.

NORWAY 2-0 ARMENIA
Tor Ole Skullerund, Norway
In the end I think we thoroughly deserved the win. We didn’t start
well but got better and better and in the end we should have had more
goals. The Armenians had a lot of possession and passed the ball well
and we expected that because we studied them on video. They are a
good passing side but I think they were lacking a little in the last
third of the pitch. We were very aware of [Edgar] Manucharyan and
[Zhora] Hovhannisyan having seen them both before. They are very good
and skilful players, and Manucharyan had a chance early in the game;
fortunately for us, he didn’t put that away. We set our focus on
breaking quickly once we had won possession, because we knew they are
very skilful on the ball. In the end we should maybe have won by more
because we had one or two good chances at the end but we are happy to
win 2-0.

FRANCE 1-1 ENGLAND
Philippe Bergeroo, France
We’ve never won against England at U19 level, despite the fact we’ve
played them several times in friendly matches, so 1-1 is a good
result. We were worried because of our three suspended players
[Vassiriki Diaby, Yohan Cabaye and Franck Dja Djedje]. It was
therefore important not to lose. England played well collectively,
but we had several chances to score a second goal which we didn’t
manage to do. The wind had an impact for both teams, but the pitch
was excellent.

Martin Hunter, England
That was a typically nervy first game where nobody wanted to lose.
One-all is not an ideal scoreline, but we are satisfied. We know a
lot about the French team, they have some good players and some were
in the stands today. The pitch was okay, although it became very
windy which made life difficult. Today we were short of fitness but
we are confident for the next match.