After his team's fourth place finish at this year's Toulon Festival of Football, England Under 20s coach Martin Hunter reflects back on the tournament and assesses the key points that were gained by a young England team. 

TheFA.com - Overall how would you rate the tournament from England's viewpoint? 

MH - I think we have done very well. It was highly successful. It was a great opportunity for the players to learn in tournament conditions. We had 5 matches in a short space of time. All 5 games were completly different and that will have given the lads a great deal in terms of learning and developing at this level.

TheFA.com - You have mentioned the tournament mentality quite alot. It is very different?

MH Yes it is. It is absolutely vital to get tournament mentality. As the players get older and winning becomes more important the experiences they have gained at a younger age will be very important. It may be a cliché but there is no substitute for experience. The French are a great example of a nation that has alot of tournament experience.

TheFA.com - The thing that I noticed is that the players have a lot of down time, which they have to deal with?

MH That's right and I have been delighted with the maturity the players have shown both on and off the pitch. In tournament conditions the players have to be focused for much longer periods of time and be able to deal with longer periods of inactivity while at the same time resting and getting into a mental state of relaxing. By that I mean knowing that the job needs to be done during training and while playing but also to relax ready for the next game.

TheFA.com - What have you learnt about the players?

MH The players have shown a great deal of discipline which is required in tournaments. They showed that they can deal with that side of things. I think a lot of the players will have found out a little bit about themselves. They will know a little bit more about their strengths and weaknesses after this tournament. This has relied on team work and that includes the staff who have worked very hard during the last two and a half weeks to get everyone ready for the tournament.

TheFA.com - What about the future for the players?

MH The players have done themselves alot of good. They were very professional. We had the chance to look at players and assess them all during the tournament because everyone played a part at some time during the tournament. I will have a meeting with Howard Wilkinson and Les Reed and we will talk about the tournament and I will debrief them. I will talk about all the players individually and we will discuss where each player fits into the club England structure for next season. That will lead onto making recommendations about players who may be given a chance in the under 21's next season. I think this group of players have done well and it all bodes well for the future and especially the under 21's and future World Cups.

TheFA.com - How different is this tournament compared to others? 

MH Playing against different styles of play was one of the benefits of a tournament like this where you get the chance to play teams you would not normally do so. China brought their Olympic squad and the lads had to contend with short passing and the breakaways. It took us a while to get into our stride and we created several chances that we did not take and at the end of the tournament has cost us. In the second game the Poles were big and strong and played in atrocious weather conditions but we stuck to our game plan and won and had a man sent off. We finished strongly as well. In the third game we played Portugal. It's the third time we have played each other and it was our best performance. We scored a well-crafted goal and made several others. As for Brazil our defensive performance was superb. We probably did not capitalise on possession. It was a great example of what happens at top class International football. Chances are few and far between and the importance of taking them when they come your way.

TheFA.com - Five clean sheets in the tournament must have been quite pleasing?

MH Defensively we were outstanding. I rotated the keepers and the defence and every one who came in did themselves alot of good. The only down side in a tournament where there was a lot of plusses is that we did not score enough goals.