January 15, 2008	Tuesday	Muharram 05, 1429

BEIJING, Jan 14: China’s soccer chief remained confident of his team's Olympic chances despite a 7-2 drubbing at the hands of German club Bayern Munich at the weekend.

The under-23 side's humiliation at the Allianz Arena made it a bad weekend all round for Chinese football as the senior had earlier been beaten 4-0 by SV Hamburg in the Dubai Challenge Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

“The team's performance today is acceptable,” Xie Yalong told the Chinese Football Association (CFA) Web site.

“Everybody has done their best. The major task for the team is the preparation for this August's Olympics, closing the gap on the strong teams.”

Serbian coach Ratomir Dujkovic, who has overall control of both squads but is concentrating on the Olympic campaign until August, was not so upbeat but said such results should be kept in perspective.

“The result made me feel a bit disgraced ... I feel hurt,” he told Soccer News. “(But) we shouldn't lose heart because of defeats in friendlies.”—Reuters