Sweden 1-0 England

“I’m still very optimistic for Euro 2004 – this result doesn’t disturb me at all,” he said.

“I was not that happy about the second half but it was a very young team and they have never played together before, so I’m not worried about that.”

Eriksson singled out Tottenham debutant Jermain Defoe for praise, adding: “I liked what I saw, he showed that he can do very well even in international football and that he is technically very good.”

“Jermain is quick and he knows where the goal is, so I liked him very much.”

Portugal 1-2 Italy

“We showed great character especially as we didn’t lose our nerve after they went ahead.”

Portugal’s former Brazilian coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari was disappointed with his side’s performance.

“We conceded two goals that are inadmissible at this level.”

“If against England (in February’s 1-1 draw) we took a step forward to becoming the team we want be, tonight we took a step backwards.”

Republic of Ireland 2-1

Duff said: “It was our best performance in a while, we struggled a bit towards the end of the Euro 2004 campaign – I don’t know why, maybe it was pressure.”

“But now we can’t wait for the World Cup qualifier to start.”

Republic manager Brian Kerr hopes they can build on the performance.

“We are going through a phase of redevelopment and building a team for the stiff challenges ahead,’ said Kerr. ‘This was a good test for the players.”

Holland 0-0 France
Holland’s coach Dick Advocaat was left satisfied his side’s 0-0 draw with the European Champions ended France’s 14 game winning streak.

Advocaat also praised the second-half contribution of Wesley Sneijder.

“For the first 25 minutes of the second half it went really well, because Sneijder asked for the ball and gave some good passes from midfield, meaning we could reach our strikers who had been too isolated in the first half,” said the Dutch coach.

French coach Jacques Santini felt the draw was a good result for his experimental side, missing key players such as Zidane, Pires and Vieira.

“Bearing in mind the condition of the two teams and the way the game unfolded, a goalless draw is a good result, said Santini.

‘We gave a good collective response to the pressure the Dutch applied at the start of the second period.”

Spain 2-0 Denmark

Olsen said: “We played well, particularly in the first half but also for parts of the second. For most of the game we stopped Spain from producing scoring opportunities, the only thing that annoys me is we gave away two easy goals.”

Olsen did applaud the performance of Everton midfielder Thomas Graveson; “Gravesen did a great job and allowed us to have the majority of the possession.”

Spain’s coach Inaki Saez felt his side did well to overcome early pressure from Denmark.

“At the beginning of the match they had more opportunities, but we managed to change this situation and reach a good level,” said the Spanish coach.