日韩精品久久一区二区三区_亚洲色图p_亚洲综合在线最大成人_国产中出在线观看_日韩免费_亚洲综合在线一区

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
Sports
Home / Sports / Soccer

Keeping slim hopes alive

Fans praised for helping China win but qualification remains a distant prospect

By SUN XIAOCHEN | China Daily | Updated: 2024-10-17 09:16
Share
Share - WeChat
China picked up its first points with a 2-1 win over Indonesia in the third phase of their World Cup Asian qualifying Group C match in Qingdao, Shandong province, on Tuesday, but stayed bottom of the group on goal difference. XINHUA

A narrow home win against Indonesia has helped Team China catch a breath in a struggle to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, but it may not be enough to keep its slim qualifying hopes alive.

After opening its third-stage Asian qualifier for the 2026 finals with three losses in a row, the bottom-ranked Chinese team in Group C snapped its disappointing skid with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Indonesia on Tuesday in Qingdao, Shandong province, yet advancing out of the six-team group remains a distant prospect.

Even having drawn level with winless Indonesia on aggregate points, Team China remains ranked last after four fixtures in the current stage, trailing the fifth-placed Southeast Asian side by goal difference.

Continental powerhouses Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia dominate the top-three spots, followed by an ambitious Bahrain at fourth.

Only each group's top two from the current stage directly qualify for the 2026 finals to be staged in the United States, Canada and Mexico, while, in the case of Group C, China has to battle against Indonesia and Bahrain for a fourth-place finish to squeeze into the next phase, where the final two qualification quotas for Asia will be up for grabs.

Still, the long-awaited first win from its second home game in the current phase has at least offered Branko Ivankovic's men a much-needed confidence boost, as well as a reason for the long-suffering Chinese fans to celebrate.

The standing ovation from a capacity crowd at the Youth Football Stadium after the Tuesday win has been a rarely-seen sight lately, with arguably the world's most tolerant group of fans left fuming at the team's lack of fight following its humiliating 7-0 rout by Japan and disheartening 2-1 home loss, even with an extra-man advantage, to Saudi Arabia last month.

Ivankovic, who's fallen victim to fan fury since the demolition by Japan, said the squad could finally lift its head above the water, at least for a short while.

"This win helped us relieve a huge pressure, even though we have a lot more tough battles to play," said Ivankovic, a 70-year-old Croatian, who took the Chinese helm in March.

"Indonesia is a tough opponent with a lot of naturalized players from Europe. They played aggressively. But we did a good job analyzing their playing style, prepared a good plan and our players executed it well tonight."

Despite starting strong to take a 2-0 lead with two strikes by forwards Behram Abduweli and Zhang Yuning in the 21st and 44th minutes, Ivankovic's men had to fall back in the second half when a surging Indonesia, bolstered by nine Dutch-born naturalized players, hit back, dominating possession and goal chances.

1 2 Next   >>|

Most Popular

Highlights

What's Hot
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 日韩精品一区二 | 久久天天 | 日韩免费在线观看视频 | 久久在线看| 久久精品久久精品久久 | 精品一区二区免费视频 | 日本熟妇无码波多野1223 | 色网在线观看 | 中文字幕在线精品 | 成人免费体验区福利云点播 | 韩国女主播青草在线观看 | 99这里只有精品视频 | 国产精品国产亚洲精品不卡 | 国产精品久久九九 | 男女性关系视频免费观看软件 | 日本激情视频一区二区三区 | 日本精品久久 | 亚洲一区日韩 | 亚洲精品国产精品国自产在线 | 午夜一级毛片 | 午夜免费 | jizz视频| 国产精品色在线网站 | 色婷婷视频| 夜色4se.bar| 久久九| 奇米9999 | 亚洲人成人 | 韩国理论午夜 | 丁香婷婷电影 | 三级在线网站 | 色综合婷婷 | 亚洲欧美中文日韩二区一区 | 日本免费观看官网 | 精品视频一区二区三区 | 99久久精品免费看国产一区二区 | 亚洲国产女人aaa毛片在线 | 日本高清精品 | 欧美人成片免费看视频不卡 | 一区二区中文字幕 | 黄色成人av |