Germany have a reputation to defend as the ultimate tournament specialists and will once again be hard to beat at Euro 2004, coach Rudi Voeller said on Friday.

"We know what other teams think about us and there is truth to it. It's not just words," he told reporters at Germany's camp on the Algarve coast.

"It's a reputation we have earned with our performances over the years." Germany are three times world and European champions.

Germany have failed to shine since restoring pride with their surprise run to the 2002 World Cup final and struggled just before heading for Portugal.

They were thrashed 5-1 by Romania in April and lost 2-0 to Hungary's second string side in their final warm-up last Sunday.

"It is true that we have not played that well over the past year but we are well prepared for this," said Voeller. "We will be hard to beat and that goes for the Netherlands and any other team."

Germany start the tournament by facing the Netherlands on Tuesday in Porto. The Czech Republic and Latvia are also in Group D.