Germany, the first rival China is to play for the opener of the Athens Olympic women's soccer tournament, is "very strong", said the Chinese team manager Monday in Patras.

Germany, winner of the 2003 women's World Cup, is one of the favorates for the Olympic title, Xue Li said during a training session in Patras, one of the five venues for soccer competitions.

"Germany might not be as aggresive as the United States, but its superb teamwork, descipline and strong desire to win make it the strongest team among the 10 women squads at the Athens Games," said Xue.

"Scorers like Birgit Prinz, make Germany much stronger than the Chinese team."

With 60 percent of its players newly enrolled, China is without outstanding players like Germany's Prinz or Sun Wen, former captain of Chinese women's team, who retired for her university campus life, Xue said.

The Chinese team manager further added that the majority of the Chinese players lack big game experiences, as the Asian qualifiers where China turns out to be one of the best, are incomparable with the Olympic matches, and the domestic level of women football is much lower than either Europe or America.

Nevertheless, Xue said that "China is well prepared to play Germany, and the whole team in good form."

And her words is echoed by China's captain Fan Yunjie who said that the team is "well prepared" as they have been studying the Germans and training hard for the match.

Striker Han Duan also joined in the chorus, saying that her team-mates are all in form and will tune up to the best for the August 11 encounter.

China's women soccer team is making its third Olympic appearance after a runner-up finish in the 1996 Atlanta Games, and a semi-final outsider in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Hoping to make the semi-final in Athens, Zhang Haitao, head coach of the Chinese team, said upon arriving in Athens on August 6, that they would try the best at the Games.