Photo taken on July 4, 2017 shows the Chinese U13 team and their local peers are posing for group photo in Berlin. (Xinhua/Shan Yuqi)

BERLIN, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Despite the pounding rain, a football game between a Chinese U13 team and their local peers was still in its full swing in Werner-Seelenbinder Sportpark in Berlin.

The game was one of and the last of a series of matches staged between the Chinese teens and their German peers during their three-day visit to Germany, a country known for its deeply-rooted football culture.

Though the two games on Monday afternoon, one men's and one women's, ended up with the defeat of Chinese men's with 4-5 and the victory of Chinese women's by 3-1, for the two Chinese U13 teams, the results were not as so important as the experiences they had learnt from their opponents and the Germany tour.

Tong Jiaxin, aged 13 from southeast China's Fujian Province, plays full back in the Chinese men's team. He said although his team suffered a defeat, he still enjoyed the game.

He also gave out his own assessment about the performance of the two teams. "They passed accurately. Not like us. We bowed our heads and dribbled too much," said Tong.

Despite the new defeat, the Chinese football boy was confident in their next game, saying they would concentrate more on the team's tactics, just like the Germans, in the future.

The results actually have been good for these young Chinese footballers, as the rules were new to them.

With no restriction on offside but a ban on tackling, these Chinese boys and girls have to adapt to the Berliner's rules in their games.

Zhu Guanghu, the coach for the Chinese youth team, also former coach for the Chinese Men's National team, saw the experiences gained by his players much more important than the result itself.

"In the last several days, our kids made progress in their techniques. More importantly, the atmosphere and the fundamentals about football have exerted subtle influence on them," Zhu said.

"They will benefit a great deal. They have learned team spirit, the consciousness of rules, and the courage to tackle all hardship," said the Chinese coach.

Games are only part of the three-day tour, which also took the group of young Chinese athletes to German clubs, where they had chance to meet those German professionals, even including some of their idols.

Recalling his visit to Berlin's professional football club Hertha BSC, where he personally watched his idols practicing in the field, Tong couldn't contain his excitement.

"It was great. I only saw them on TV. I might play professional football like them," Tong said.

While the young players like Tong were inspired by the personal seeing of their idols, the coach Zhu was paying more attention on the youth academy, which German professional clubs play seriously.

For the Bundesliga clubs, who are eligible to play in Germany's primary football competition, youth academy is a pre-requisite to gain their license each year. Therefore, every club has to take it very seriously.

With a good pool of coaches, plenty of well-trained players are bound to emerge.

And Zhu observed that the German clubs have never been hesitated in throwing the rookies into the match even if it's in the vital minutes.

Giving them the chance to test themselves against the best in the business, "this is what we should learn from them," said the Chinese coach.

The tour by the Chinese young footballers is part of the China-Germany football cooperation plan, according to which the Chinese young athletes will follow the German training doctrines in a hope to emerge as a fresh force in the dispirited Chinese football in the future.

Under a framework agreement signed by China's Ministry of Education and the German Football Association last November, Germany will help China in building and improving the youth training mechanism, which is widely seen as a key factor winning World Cup 2014.

The Chinese coach Zhu said developing the youth training mechanism could take more than 10 years but it worth the efforts.

"The German young players play a match almost three times in a week. There were sufficient football pitches and encouraging and professional coaches. The kids will love the game from deep down," Zhu said.

Tobias Winter, communication manager for German Football Association, said the Chinese government paid "extraordinary concern" on the football cooperation plan and both countries will surely gain a lot from the close exchange.