I'd like to congratulate Spain and their coach, because we have to recognise the high quality of their play. They played really well during the whole tournament, and today they were technically excellent and had more chances than us. They deserved to win. We're disappointed that we didn't win but I think we can be satisfied with the tournament as a whole.
The team performed very well over the 45 days we've spent together, we had a lot of fun and enjoyed it, but we were very ambitious too. This defeat is going to be an incentive to work hard over the next two years in a number of areas and to improve, so that in qualifying we can reach our target of playing in the [FIFA] World Cup.
For some time, our focus has been on playing without the ball, ball possession, fast passes and direct contact. This is important in football, particularly at high speed and under pressure. We're aware that Spain are very good at that. Over the last two years we have shown that we're also fast and good at combinations. Looking at the last few tournaments we're right at the top in Europe and the team in recent years have learned a lot. They have developed well but we know we must not lose energy and strength – we must go on working and improving.
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