Xi’an: China produced a brilliant performance yesterday to keep alive their hopes of advancing to the next round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers after defeating Qatar 2-0.
Following a goalless first half at the Shanxi Stadium, Huang Bowen fired the hosts ahead with a terrific effort before Wu Lei struck right at the end to seal the victory for them.
However, the Chinese – who finished second in Group C – will have to wait to find out if the result was enough to send them through to the third round of the World Cup qualifiers, as well as straight to the 2019 Asian Cup as one of the four best runners-up.
With the Qataris having already wrapped up top spot before yesterday’s clash, it was China who had more on the line but the opposition were also looking to maintain their perfect streak in the campaign by claiming an eighth consecutive victory.
This resulted in a keenly-contested opening 45 with both sides being restricted to efforts from distance, although it was arguably Gao Hongbo’s charges who were more deserving of being in front at halftime.
Nonetheless, their persistence paid off in the 57th minute when they finally took the lead after the visitors failed to clear their lines, allowing Huang to pounce on a loose ball on the edge of the box and drill a low shot into the bottom corner.
Having fallen behind, Qatar did show more urgency in their bid to find the equaliser but the Chinese were impressively dominant at the back and were rarely troubled, although their opponents were without a handful of key players including Hassan Al Haydos and Sebastian Soria.
And as the Qataris pushed more and more men forward in the final stages of the game, the hosts were able to capitalise a minute from time when Wu Lei’s darting run into the box was picked out by an incisive pass from Hao Junmin.
Despite being closely followed by a defender and facing a tight angle, the Shanghai SIPG midfielder clinically fired a left-footed shot past Amine Lecomte to cap off a fine display by his team.
Qatar coach Daniel Carreno said he will be looking at positives from his team’s 2-0 loss against hosts China.
“We have observed the game closely. There are negatives and positives from this match. We will take the positives and work on our weaknesses,” Carreno said.
“We were expecting a tough game. I had said earlier anyone from the group of 28 players could be selected for this game,” he added.
“Despite the loss, we look at the positives. Every game offers something and we have to be positive,” the Qatar coach said.
“China employed good tactics. We expected a tough fight, no doubt. Now we have time to plan for the next stage.”
Qatar remain at the top of Group C with 21 points. Second-placed China have 17 points from eight matches.
Hosts China were thrilled with their win over Qatar saying the team ‘had achieved their target’ from the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying game.
“We will celebrate this win,” Hongbo said yesterday.
“We have got three points from this game. We have achieved our target,” he said.
“I will take this opportunity to say that clubs helped us get the best players. The players did a good job,” Hongbo said.
“The quality of play was reflected on the field of play. We did not take any silly risks in the 90 minutes of the game,” he said.
“After the first half, my players attacked well. We played an attacking game,” Hongbo said.
“Qatar team has quality players. It has developed well over the years,” he said.
The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.The Peninsula
