The tournament co-hosts' dreams of progressing to the last eight were crushed after a 2-1 defeat to Turkey on Wednesday night which followed their opening 1-0 slip to the Czech Republic.

"We are hugely disappointed but I cannot criticise anyone, neither the players nor anyone else," said Kuhn. "We have lost two matches in an unfortunate way."

Arda Turan's stoppage-time goal handed Turkey the victory in their second Group A game, after Semih Senturk had cancelled out Switzerland striker Hakan Yakin's opener.

The result sent Portugal, Switzerland's final opponents in the group stage, into the quarter finals.

"It's painful," said Kuhn. "I thought about trying to keep the 1-1 result and replace players tactically but we didn't have much time to make up our own minds.

"The fact is that we wanted to win because even with a point the probability of going through to the next round would have been highly unlikely as we face Portugal in our last group game.

"But I don't regret any decisions I have made. I don't think I can criticise myself for anything.

"I just wanted to win the match."

Kuhn rued Yakin's missed chance late in the game which would have seen them move in front. However, Turkish goalkeeper Volkan Demirel made a stunning save to deny Yakin's close-range effort.

"We had a chance to score the second goal," he said. "From that point of view, it was unsatisfactory but as far as commitment and willingness it was all there.

"I think my team have given everything in this tournament and I am proud of them."

Turkey coach Fatih Terim was relieved with the result and admitted he had prayed for the rain to stop as it was hindering his team's performance during the game.

"Frankly, we had thought that some rain would be to our benefit but we didn't think the pitch was going to be drenched so much," he said. "We had to change our tactics but we didn't expect this much rain and I did pray to God for the rain to stop."

The victory against Swiss marks a new beginning for Turkey after their opening defeat to Portugal, according to Terim.

"Today is the beginning of Euro 2008 for us," he said.

"It's a wonderful feeling to have won this game. The players needed this.

"I congratulate them too on their incredible effort.

"The three points gives us a lot of hope for the group and today marks the beginning of the tournament for us.

"We are still alive in the competition, we are still playing.

"It was very difficult to beat Switzerland at home and I believe this was an important win."