We spoke with Welsh women’s teams’ manager Jarmo Matikainen about the UEFA U-19 Championship in Wales, which starts this Monday, August 19th.
How exciting does it feel to be contesting the finals on ‘home’ soil?
JM: It’s a very big thing for us in welsh football and obviously a huge challenge for us as a team. It’s the first major final tournament we have organised, so it’s a great challenge. Great also for the U-19s and hopefully we’ll get good crowds to see some top players. That’s one important part of it, to increase the awareness of the high standards of women’s football and it is very important to get as many young girls and players to come and watch the games as possible, to give them the extra motivation to strive further and aim higher in women’s football.
What do you hope to achieve with Wales in the finals?
JM: We’ve never been in the final tournament, so football-wise it’s going to be a massive challenge for us. We hope to play three very good games, that’s our aim but we’ve got three teams who are household names in the final tournament. All the other seven teams were also represented in the senior finals in Sweden in July, so we know the task in immense and we want to play three good games and we’ll take it from there.
Will the WSL regulars in your squad be key to your performance?
JM: We are in a situation where we need to play younger players already in the senior team, it’s not ideal but of course it gives those players an opportunity to work in that environment already. So the two or three players who have already tasted senior team football will be important members of our squad.
What are your opinions of the teams in your group and who will win the trophy?
JM: Denmark have always been good but have even improved in recent years. The football they play in Denmark at the moment is outstanding. England is another regular in the final tournament at this level and has been very successful and I know they have an extremely tough team. France, who are probably playing the most exciting women’s football at the moment, make it a very tough group. But it’s also a very interesting group, as we get to play against three quite different teams, so I’m really looking forward to that. I think that both groups are quite even and both have candidates to win the tournament and the margins are very, very small, so I think that any of those can win.
You were part of the Technical Study Group in Sweden, what did you think of EURO 2013 as a whole?
JM: First of all, Sweden’s whole organisation was fantastic, the venues were excellent, the crowds over 8,000 on average and the final with 41,000, even without Sweden playing in it, I think was outstanding. Compared to 2009, the game has improved quite a lot, all the twelve teams showed that the margins are getting narrower and narrower and the standards of the football have really improved. It was a very good showcase for women’s football.
For the fixture schedule, venues & KO times, click here.
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