Mo Marley paid tribute to Germany, but said that England would recover from the defeat.
Germany 2-0 England
UEFA European Women's U19 Championship Finals
3pm, 7 July 2008
Avoine
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Mo Marley has paid tribute to Germany after England came up short against the reigning European Champions in the opening game of the finals.
Marley admitted that Germany deserved the victory, and called for her players to be 'smarter' in the remaining two group games as they look to emulate last season's heroic run to the final.
"We always knew it was going to be a tough game," Marley told Uefa.com. "Today we have to compliment Germany – they were a little bit smarter, a little bit cleverer with their play.
"We had a plan, but struggled to break them down. There was a lot of effort, a lot of application but I think we need to play a bit smarter.
"They were a bit cleverer about when to attack, when to defend, and I think that we had a Plan A but not a Plan B today – it's something we have to work on.
"Compliments to what [Germany] have done, they've done it in the past themselves and they've been consistent with it.
"We played exceptionally well in qualification coming into this tournament. We just have to transfer the quality we have against top teams. It's something we've discussed and we're getting better at it each game."
England
1 Rebecca Spencer, 2 Chelsea Weston, 3 Claire Rafferty, 4 Remi Allen, 5 Sophie Bradley, 6 Gilly Flaherty, 7 Jade Moore (18 Jessica Holbrook, 85) 8 Elizabeth Edwards (15 Jordan Nobbs, 75) 9 Toni Duggan, 10 Brooke Chaplen, 11 Jessica Clarke
Substitutes
12 Ashlee Baker, 13 Georgie Giddings, 14 Michelle Hinnigan, 16 Jody Jacobs, 17 Isobel Christiansen