Soccer-Players say future bright for Germany despite semi-final loss to Spain
ZURICH (Reuters) -Germany's players and coach Christian Wueck said their team would continue to develop and would come back stronger after their extra-time defeat to Spain in the UEFA Women's Euros semi-final.
Barcelona's Aitana Bonmati struck in the 113th minute to break German hearts at Zurich's Letzigrund stadium on Wednesday.
"I am proud of the team, and yes, we will continue from here," Wueck said. "It was another setback, but I believe we can build on that and we will now try to carry that on in the Nations League."
Germany had exceeded expectations by holding out against World Champions Spain for so long, Wueck said.
"And I believe that the development we have started is the right one and we stand behind it 100%," he added.
Defender Rebecca Knaak said the performance showed her team was on the right track.
"We also showed today that we could play with a bit more courage, a bit more self-confidence, even against Spain, because of course we defended a lot, but we also wanted to set the tone in terms of play," Knaak said.
"We showed what we could do against world-class players. I'm so proud of the girls," Knaak said.
Teammate Sara Daebritz said the team was disappointed to concede such a late goal, dashing the team's dream of making the final, where Spain will now meet England.
Still the team has "a very promising future," Daebritz said.
"We have a lot of young players in our ranks, a lot of players who haven't played that many international matches yet, but who have really played an outstanding tournament here," she said.
"And we'll keep going, we'll keep working hard on ourselves and we'll come back stronger."
(Reporting by John Revill, additional reporting by Madeline Chambers in Berlin, editing by Chris Reese)
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