The progress of the Netherlands and England to today’s final has enhanced Malta U-17 coach Sergio Soldano’s satisfaction at the showings of his team in a daunting group that produced the two finalists.
“I expect a combative encounter,” Soldano told Times of Malta when asked for his views on this evening’s title showdown.
“It’s a clash between the cohesive and physical play of the English and the indi-vidual qualities of the Dutch.
“The fact that the two finalists have emerged from Group A goes to show how difficult our section was but I’m hugely satisfied that we approached every game in the right manner.
“The Netherlands are a great team. We respected them but played our own game. Our performance, especially in the second half, was very good.
“Even the television commentators remarked afterwards that this was a game that should have finished 5-5.
“We faced England in our opening game and that was very difficult for various reasons. They caused us a lot of problems but again we approached the game with a lot of courage and determination to keep our tactical shape.”
Soldano sees no favourites for the final but admitted that the Dutch have produced the best football so far.
“I am all out for constructive football,” Soldano remarked.
“I fancy teams that do not hesitate to take risks. The Netherlands are strong in every department, I like them a lot but England are very clinical and aggressive.”
Although one can’t assess the strength of two teams according to their results against the same opposition, there was no escaping the feeling on Sunday that Malta’s performance against the Dutch eclipsed that of Scotland who went down 5-0 to the Dutch in the semi-finals.
“I’m the last person who would talk negatively about another side because as a team we must learn from everyone,” Soldano said.
“However, while I was watching the semi-final between the Netherlands and Scotland, I couldn’t help but think about our performance against the Dutch. We played with a defined tactical objective. We tried to go forward and managed a better result (than Scotland).
“I believe this bodes well for the future of our team and our young players.”