Lois Fidler applauded England’s "fantastic display" after her side crushed Portugal 6-1 to set up a European Championship semi-final against Spain.
Six different players got on the scoresheet in Burton as the Young Lions dismantled Susana Cova’s side with a dominant display.
Mollie Rouse opened the scoring on ten minutes, while Evie Clarke and Atlanta Primus made it 3-0 before Leandra Pereira pulled a goal back on the stroke of half-time.
England 6-1 Portugal
UEFA Women's U17 Euro Finals
Group A
Monday 2 December 2013
Burton Albion FC
But Chloe Kelly and Lucy Porter netted either side of an Alice Hassall penalty to complete a resounding victory.
Fidler said: "I don’t think any coach can be anything other than happy when your team has just won 6-1 to qualify for a semi-final, so hats off to them - they went out there and delivered what we asked.
"The danger for us would have been if we took our foot off the pedal and let [Portugal] back into the game, but we weren’t prepared to do that and I reminded them of that at half-time.
"Attacking-wise we played exceptionally well so I’m delighted. It was a fantastic display.
"I’m really pleased with our attitude, application and with the quality of our crossing and finishing.
"But I’d be doing the team an injustice if I didn’t mention the defensive display, the character and the discipline they’ve shown and how pleased I’ve been with that over the course of the three group games."
Now the Head Coach will prepare her charges for a last-four meeting with Spain on Thursday.
The Spaniards topped Group B by winning two of their three matches without conceding a goal and they rounded off their group campaign with a notable 4-0 dismissal of Germany.
The top three teams at the Euros – the two finalists and the winner of the third/fourth place play-off – will qualify for next year’s U17 World Cup in Costa Rica.
England and Spain last met in a UEFA development tournament in April, with the Iberians winning 2-0.
Fidler added: "I said to the players that six points would get us out of the group. We’ve done that and now we are here for the duration, which was the plan all along.
"We played Spain in Madrid in April so we’ve got a little bit of recent history against them, but now we’ll go away and do a lot more work on them. I haven’t paid any attention to Group B because we had to focus on our own job first.
"If we win on Thursday it would be our first time reaching a Euro final and the first time we would have qualified outright for a World Cup.
"We like making history so we’ll recover properly, prepare properly and be good to go."
