China overcame a lackluster first half to beat Russia 3-1 while Australia clinched a 1-0 victory over the jet-lagged world champions Germany on the first day of the women's Four-Nation soccer tournament in Quanzhou, south China's Fujian Province on Jan. 28.

The newly constructed Steel Roses found few good chances to penetrate Russia's goal until the last minute of the first half.

Han Duan took Ren Liping's cross, dribbling down the left and stroke from the near post.

But Galina Komarova help Russia level the score in 60 minutes.

Second half substitute Ji Ting took a loose ball and tapped in the second for China in 79 minutes and Bi Yan secured the victory with a long-range shot one minute later.

Chinese caretaker coach Wang Haiming said he was pleased with the performance of the team, reconstructed in December last year.

"They did play well in the first half as they felt pressure in the first international game after the team was rebuilt, but they were a lot better in the second," said Wang, who took over the Chinese team after he led the junior side to the runners-up position in at the World Championship last year in Thailand.

"All the players had to adapt themselves to new positions," he said.

Australia gave a strong performance against world number women's side Germany in a match earlier Friday.

Lisa De Vanna's solo performance six minutes into the second half earned thunderous applause as the striker had a Diego Maradona style dribbling of 50 meters before sending the ball wide.

But only two minutes later the 20-year-old tapped in the winner with her left foot.

"Our players did 110% for this game and we had advantage for being longer than Germany," said Australia head coach Tom Sermanni.

"We also had a warm-up match against China the other day," he said.

Germany coach Tina Theune Meyer was obviously not satisfied with the result.

"Australia had a good game. We lost many balls and we had few real chance in the game," said Meyer, who led Germany to the world championship in 2003.

Australia lost 1-0 to China in a pre-tournament warm-up Tuesday and Germany arrived here Wednesday night for the round-robin event which also includes Russia.

Results at Four-Nation soccer tournament

Following are the results at the women's Four-Nation international friendly Friday:

China beat Russia 3-1

Scorers

China -- Han Duan 45, Ji Ting 79, Bi Yan 80

Russia -- Galina Komarova 59

Australia bt Germany 1-0

Scorer

Lisa De Vanna 51

Source: Xinhua