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Flawless Germany eye third Women's World Cup crown

FIFA Women's World Player of the Year 2013 nominee Nadine Angerer of Germany smiles during a news conference ahead of the FIFA Ballon d'Or soccer awards ceremony at the Kongresshaus in Zurich January 13, 2014. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann (Reuters)

By Karolos Grohmann BERLIN (Reuters) - Confident Germany are hoping to add a third Women's World Cup title to their collection despite a long club season and a short pre-tournament preparation. Having qualified in sensational fashion after winning all 10 of their Group 1 games, the Germans are brimming with confidence ahead of the tournament, having scored 62 goals and let in four in the qualifications. "Our team is outstanding, we have immense potential and the necessary quality to go very far in this tournament," said 36-year-old goalkeeper Nadine Angerer, preparing for what will be her fifth World Cup. "We only have this aim in our sights and everything else is secondary," added the two-time World Cup winner, who will be retiring this year. Germany are in Group B for the June 6-July 5 tournament in Canada and will face Ivory Coast, Thailand and Norway. But with German players in club action as recently as last week, coach Silvia Neid, who is stepping down next year after over a decade at the helm, has had a far from ideal preparation in Switzerland. Frankfurt beat Paris St Germain in the Champions League final on May 14 with seven Germany internationals involved while others still had domestic league matches. "This is the biggest challenge because of the preparation time we had," said Neid, who has been involved in each of Germany's two World Cup wins and eight European Championship victories either as a player, assistant coach or coach. Her 23-member squad includes 18 players who won the European crown in 2013 as well a handful of Under-20 World Cup winners from the 2014 tournament also held in Canada. "In the past weeks we gathered a lot of impressions and at the end it was nuances that made the difference," Neid said of her final World Cup squad. She will be missing 2014 FIFA World player of the year Nadine Kessler, out due to injury, as well as experienced attacking midfielder Lira Alushi, who is pregnant. Celia Sasic, the Bundesliga top scorer, will be in charge of getting the goals as she did in Frankfurt's 2-1 Champions League win over the French club. Frankfurt teammate Simone Laudher is also back in training after an injury scare in the final. (Editing by Frank Pingue)