Lois Fidler believes the current crop of England Women’s U17 internationals is the best group she has ever worked with.
The Head Coach, who has been at the helm since 2007, could only look on as her Young Lions were beaten on penalties by Italy in the European Championship third-place play-off at Burton Albion.
This defeat meant England narrowly missed out on a place at next year’s FIFA Women’s U17 World Cup in Costa Rica.
England 0-0 Italy
(Italy win 4-3 on penalties)
UEFA Women's U17 Championship
Third-place Play-Off
Sunday 8 December 2013
Burton Albion FC
But, after leading them out of Group A with deserved victories over Austria and Portugal, Fidler had nothing but praise for the way her squad dealt with their first experience of a finals tournament.
She said: "I have absolutely thoroughly enjoyed working with this team and I think Costa Rica will be a poorer place without an England side.
"I’ve been doing this job for a long time and had the privilege of working with a large number of players who have gone on to be senior internationals, but I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of, in my opinion, the best team I’ve ever worked with.
"The players have been fantastic, the staff have worked really hard and I’ve got nothing but high expectations for a number of these players moving on.
"I think the players need to remember what it feels like in this situation – you’ve got the whole of your careers ahead of you – remember what it feels like to see the opposition celebrating like that because it will be useful to you.
"Hold your heads up high, to be proud and bounce back and live to fight another day."
