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Strongest-ever Germany ready to win

Xinhua, June 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

This might not be the best German team in the history, but definitely the best of the past two decades and the tournament favorites are ready to win.

The eight-time European champions showed up Saturday at the Lansdowne Stadium of Ottawa, preparing for Sunday's opening game against Cote i'Ivoire in Group B. They were laughing, chatting, and optimistic about their group stage matches.

"I think the talk of 'strongest German team in the past 20 years' is the skill concerned," head coach Silvia Neid said at the press conference here.

"We have lots of quality players on the bench. They are great women. This is a a team of mixture of older and younger players. We'll be 100 percent out to win the games," she added.

The only opponent for Germany in the group stage is themselves. The two-time gold medalists won all their 10 qualifiers before the World Cup and scored impressive 62 goals.

The perennial powerhouse lost to the eventual winners Japan 1-0 in overtime in the quarter-finals of 2011 Germany tournament, the first time they didn't finish in the last four at World Cup since 1999.

"We learned a lot from loss. We're ready for another challenge here," Neit said. "The disappoitment (of the loss) has nothing to do with this tournament here. We'll play game to game, and are determined to get as far as we can."

Norway, which won the WC 20 years ago, might not be that strong to take the top place of the group, but are confident to advance.

Head coach Even Pellerud said, "We're ready to play. The team is healthy and we have few injuries. We could go all the way (to the finals). "

Norway qualified for the tournament after winning nine straight matches, topped the group in European qualifying competition with a record of 41 goals scored and just five conceded.

As the ever-present of World Cup, Norway won gold at Sweden 1995, and silver at China 1991. They also finished fourth in 1999 and 2007.

In 2013 UEFA women's EURO, Norway lost 1-0 to Germany in the final after missing a pair of penalty kicks. The two teams will face off on June 11.

Group B is dubbed as one of the most-lopsided groups as Germany and Norway are almost guaranteed to advance, while the Cote d'Ivoire and Thailand will need a minor miracle to survive.

Cote d'Ivoire booked the final place for the World Cup through a 3-4 placing play-off win over South Africa, 1-0, but their luck might not prevail here when facing experienced Germany and Norway.

Thailand have similar qualifying odyssey as Cote d'Ivoire as they finished fifth in Asia with a narrow one-goal margin win over Vietnam in play-offs.

The top two teams will take on two winners from group F in the knock-out round. Endi