The Chinese men's soccer team will take on Bahrain in the match priced 400 RMB yuan or about 45 US dollars per ticket.

Grouped together with China in Pool A also include Gatar and Indonesia. Beijing's ticketing organization doesn't have to worry much about its business as long as the host team stays in the capital and advances as far as it can.

But for the other three host cities, the picture may not be as rosy.

While Jinan, eastern Shandong, is worried about the weather, with rainstorms forecast to spoil the opening round over the weekend, Chongqing in the southwest has to slash ticket prices to attract as many spectators as they can.

With a lukewarm market so far, Chongqing's ticket office has to designate special prices at discounts of up to fifty percent off the original to woo young students who are on summer holiday.

After seeing initial signs of growth, Secretary General of the Chongqing competition zone Duan Jie feels somewhat relieved.

"We've passed the fifty percent mark, meaning half of the 200 thousand tickets are sold. Things are turning to the better. "

Situation in neighboring Chengdu shouldn't be much better. For most fans, games played between Asian teams without the home squad involved maybe not as attractive as Euro2004.

Source: China Radio International