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China’s Cup fate hangs in balance
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Uzbekistan and Oman grabbed dramatic late victories to secure berths in the 2015 Asian Cup yesterday but there was no such luck for China, which was held to a battling 0-0 draw by Saudi Arabia in Xi’an.
Oman left it until the first minute of injury time to secure its 1-0 win over Syria, while Uzbekistan scored twice in the last six minutes to beat China’s Hong Kong 2-0. The results mean Oman and Uzbekistan, which were semifinalists in 2011, become the eighth and ninth teams to reach the 2015 tournament in Australia.
The hosts, defending champion Japan, North and South Korea, UAE, Bahrain and the Saudis have already confirmed.
However, China must wait until its tough final qualifier away to Iraq in March before learning if it will make it to its 11th successive Asian Cup.
China, led by caretaker manager Fu Bo and watched by his possible successor, Guangzhou Evergrande boss Marcello Lippi, did all the running in Xi’an but failed to deliver the killer blow. Guangzhou right-back Zhang Linpeng had a strong late penalty shout turned down and his club teammate Huang Bowen put a free-kick inches wide with the last kick of the game.
While the draw ended Saudi Arabia’s 100 percent record in the qualifiers, it ensured that it will finish in first place in Group C, an AFC.com report said.
China remained second but with third-placed Iraq beating Indonesia 2-0 in Jakarta, it must avoid defeat when they meet in its final group game in March to secure its passage to Australia.
The Saudis had the first real chance in the game after 10 minutes when China goalkeeper Zeng Cheng was called into action to deny Salem Al Dawsari low at his near post.
China was then denied an almost certain opener six minutes later as Jiang Ning raced onto a long ball over the top, but with the midfielder about to shoot after progressing into the penalty area, Hassan Fallatah produced a superbly timed last-ditch tackle to deny him.
In the 33rd minute, Zhang Xizhe floated in a free-kick from the right which picked out an unmarked Liu Jian who could only send his free-kick high over the crossbar.
The home side continued to dominate after the interval with Sun Xiang forcing a reflex save out of goalkeeper Waleed Abdullah while Gao Lin and Zheng Zhi both sent efforts over the target.
Abdullah was called into action to stop a free-kick by Sun in the 77th minute before the defender drilled another free-kick just wide with three minutes left. China had a case for a penalty when Zhang Linpeng appeared to be brought down by Mansour Al Harbi in the box as the game entered stoppage time but it was turned down.
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