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UEFA UNDER 19: No goals but plenty of positives

/noticias.info/ Take away the ifs, buts and maybes and Thursday's second round of Group B matches comprised two 0-0 draws. With the Czech Republic and England hitting the woodwork, they could perhaps claim to have been harder done to, but the results in Liberec and Jablonec at least kept all four countries in contention. uefa.com rounds up the coaches' reaction.

CZECH REPUBLIC 0-0 GREECE
Jakub Dovalil, Czech Republic coach
We expected a tough game and beforehand I would have taken a point. But, particularly in the second half, we had good chances and for that reason I would have preferred the win. We did a lot of attacking down either flank but maybe we didn't get enough shots away. Miroslav Štěpánek came into the team and did well, I had to take Jan Lecjaks off because he got booked, but overall I am satisfied with the boys. We have four points now and, theoretically, that could already be enough for second or third place. I would also like to say a sincere thank you to all the fans – their support was very important to us. They were so loud, in fact, that at times it was difficult to communicate with the players.

Alexis Alexiou, Greece coach
The first half was very good for us and we had two or three chances to score. Then, in the second half, we were controlling the game until Sotiris Ninis got sent off. From that point onwards, the players showed great heart to get the draw. I think if we had continued with eleven men we could well have won, but once the red card happened, we had to change tack and protect our goal. Even in the first minute we could have been ahead, then Ioannis Papadopoulos had a good shot after half-time which nearly went in. But with ten men on the field, we really couldn't have done any more. You can see the heart that we have in the team and we hope we can achieve our target against England in the last match and so continue in the tournament. We have to recover for that game, but for now, I want to congratulate my players on their efforts.

ENGLAND 0-0 ITALY
Brian Eastick, England coach
I thought the team performance was a considerable improvement on the Czech Republic game. We were really good, especially in the first half, and were a shade unlucky not to have got the three points – but to win, you need that cutting edge. It is always a concern not to score, but we have goalscorers in Daniel Sturridge, Freddie Sears and Danny Rose, and if we continue to play that type of football then the goals will come. They were clever and put two holding midfielders in there after half-time, because we'd been having joy with Victor Moses running in behind and were causing them problems. We looked a decent team, but we needed that little bit of luck and the ball just wouldn't drop for us in the box. The players are disappointed because they felt their performance merited the win. We now have to maintain that level because there are no easy games here – the margins are so thin. I am pleased we are still in the tournament.

Francesco Rocca, Italy coach
England played really well. It was not easy for us and it was a privilege to play against a team like that. You always judge a performance against the quality of the opposition. We also tried to play our football and overall I was happy with the display. We did well in a tough match, we put in a real shift and we were able to cope with England's physicality and athleticism. In the first half they were exposing our two centre-backs too much with runners from midfield, but we changed things and got better. Andrea Mazzarani took a knock so Silvano Raggio came on and he gave us something extra in central. It is a really tough competition and we are still capable of going through. In many ways it is an achievement just to be here, but now we have to play to win against the Czechs, both for the sake of this tournament and for [FIFA U-20] World Cup qualification. notas_de_prensa_archivo