China lost to Germany 1-0 in Algarve Cup

Nine-player China lost to Geramny 1-0 in the second round group game of the Algarve Cup women's tournament on Friday. German skipper Melanie Behringer scored on a penalty after China's central defender Weng Xinzhi brought down midfielder Linda Bresonik in the area. The game turned into a one-way traffic after 28 minutes as China's forward Han Peng got her marching order, leaving her ten teammates struggling to cope with Germany's ferocious attack. Chinese midfielder Zhang Rui was also expelled just before the end. Hao Wei, caretaker manager of the Chinese team, was resentful at the referee's decisions. "I should say we lost to the referee instead of the German side, " he said. "Some of her decisions are incomprehensible or dubious, which completely disrupted our game plan." The Chinese players were pinned firmly before their goal almost throughout the game, and managed no shot on the goal. Hao insisted that his side could have performed better if without the referee's unfair intervention. "My players are rather young and inexperienced, they showed great character in adversity. I felt proud for them," he said. German head coach Silvia Neid regretted her side's poor finish. "We created a lot of chances, we should have scored two more goals," she said. "We knew the Chinese girls are good at moving the ball, so we tride to deny them any space. I think our tactics worked well and did not give them any chance," she added.