China beaten 2-0 by Germany at Algarve Cup (updated with quotes)

World No. 1 Germany claimed a comfortable 2-0 victory over Group A underdogs China at Algarve Cup here on Friday.

Anja Mittag made the breakthrough for the defending champions of the annual women's soccer invitational tournament in the 40th minute after a nice group effort inside the area.

A header from substitute striker Alexandra Popp from the left beat the Chinese goalkeeper Zhang Yue to enlarge the lead for Germany at the 78th minute.

"I'm very satisfied with the result and performance from my players," commented German coach Silvia Neid at a post-match press conference.

"It has been the first tournament after the past season of local league," she added. "It's hard, but they've played tight and strong, especially in defence."

With the women's soccer World Cup in three months, Neid made special emphasis on selecting player, observing and collecting information to prepare for the upcoming grand event.

"We have a lot to do en route to the Canada World Cup in June," she said.

China, ranked 13th in FIFA's standings, opened the game well with some chances in the starting minutes but never threw one single serious threat to Germany's goalmouth.

"We are today against the world No. 1 who're much better than us as a whole team," said China's coach Hao Wei.

"If we'd done better in the first half without going one down, or may we made some changes to the attack, we could have come to a different result," said the former national player of China's men' s team.

"I think my players should make efforts on learning how to react under such big pressure, especially on learning how to make adjustment on attack when it's not working," he added.

Neid gave some credit to China's technique and spirit though she's proud that the German team successfully contained the rivals attack.

"They are a fairly good team," she said. "They stayed tight with good skills and tactics firmly carried out. That's good for a team."

The victory lifted the title holders to the third position after Brazil beat Sweden 2-0 later in another match of the day in Group A. China were on the bottom as the only team without a win.

In the opening round two days ago, China held Brazil 0-0 while Germany were shocked 2-4 by fifth-rated Sweden, who launched a successful comeback though the Germans scored twice in the opening four minutes. Endite