China’s Asian Cup hopes hit snag
Print Edition
Boaz Solossa’s thunderous equalizer rocked China’s bid to reach an 11th straight Asian Cup when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Indonesia last night in Jakarta.
China, under caretaker manager Fu Bo after Juan Antonio Camacho was sacked in June, went ahead through Wu Xi in the first half at Jakarta’s cavernous Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.
But Solossa’s strike from the edge of the box denied China a valuable win as they compete with former champions Iraq and Saudi Arabia for the two automatic qualifying spots in a difficult Group C.
The draw put China second in the group at the halfway stage with Iraq, one point behind, due to host table-toppers Saudi Arabia later. Indonesia is bottom with one point.
Elsewhere, Singapore got its first points with a 2-1 win over Syria, which lifts them off the bottom of Group A as they seek to reach the 2015 Asian Cup in Australia.
And Ali Ahmed Mabkhout scored a hat-trick as Group E leaders United Arab Emirates maintained its 100 percent record with a 4-0 away thrashing of Hong Kong.
In Jakarta, China was on top in the early stages and lone striker Yu Dabao twice went close before midfielder Wu broke the deadlock in the 36th minute.
Feng Xiaoting hit the crossbar on the hour-mark, and the miss proved costly when Indonesia equalized on 68 minutes with Solossa’s first-time strike from the edge of the box.
Meanwhile, at Singapore’s Jalan Besar Stadium, striker Khairul Amri put the home side ahead after half-time when Hafiz Sujad cut in and crossed for an easy scoring opportunity.
And Gabriel Quak, moments after coming on, had the home crowd in raptures when he burst into the box from the right and planted his shot for a 2-0 lead in the 81st minute.
Reja Rafe’s raking strike with two minutes to go gave Syria hope, but Singapore held on for what were its first points of qualifying.
In Group D, Malaysia rescued a point against Bahrain when Norshahrul Idlan Talaha scored in the 71st minute for a 1-1 draw in Shah Alam.
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