Kyra Kills France
Germany 4 France 1

22/6/9
By Anja Moller in Nyon

Germany crushed France 4 -1 in the second semi-final here in Colovary stadium, Nyon. France started and ended very nervously and did not find their rhythm inn this game. The first half started with France trying to put together some passes but as they backed off Germany slowly took total control of the game. Germany took the lead through Kyra Malinowski and 4 minutes later France brought the game back to 1-1 .

Germany then attacked and had more individuals on display than France could handle and it was here in these small battles that the game was lost. Germany went on to add more after the break and walk into the final against Espana looking like true favourites for this final.

 

’’We did not the start the game very well and had some problems in the first 20 minutes. We managed to take control of the game after that, especially after taking the lead, and I think that we deserved to win based on our overall performance. It was a very good display by the whole team. We are all very happy and are looking forward to the final.

There is always something to improve. We have to get into tackles a lot better and need to take more time in some situations, especially tight situations when we had a tendency to play the long ball too often. We are working on that.

I try to remind the players of their own strengths. The girls can play football, very good football which everybody could see today and I think we can be confident for the upcoming task. Kyra scored three goals today and did everything I expect her to do. She did a good job. Her first goal gave her a lot of confidence and she was excellent after the break’’

Germany coach Ralf Peter.

 

‘’It is a disappointment because our girls can do much better than that. They were a bit nervous and did not show their true colours. That's why I'm disappointed because the game was no real contest. We could not win this game in those conditions. I tried to cheer them up during half-time and tell them to play our game.

The few times we did that, we managed to put them off their game. Then we collapsed as if they were afraid to play but to tell the truth there was a great team on the pitch.
Anaïs Ribeyra is our striker and we relied on her to score a goal like that. I said to myself it would worry them because it was the first goal they had conceded. At half-time we were only down 2-1 and I think that was the first time they had led by such a slim margin. It is just a bit of a shame that we conceded the third goal so quickly with a defensive mistake.

The German team has a vast array of individual talents. They are a very cohesive team. I hope we will be our own selves and play our game on Thursday. We will play to win the third-place play-off. Our game is to put the ball on the floor, run forward and score goals.’’

France coach Paco Rubio