The Hindu : Sport / Football : China in last eight

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 26, 2004

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Sport - Football

China in last eight

BEIJING, JULY 25. China and Bahrain booked berths in the Asian Cup quarterfinals eliminating Qatar and Indonesia here on Sunday.

China defender Xu Yunlong scored a second half goal to see his team advance with a 1-0 victory over Qatar, while goals from Husain Ali, A'ala Hubail and Talal Jusuf lifted Bahrain past Indonesia 3-1. Indonesia's goal came from Elie Eboy.

China ended the first round atop Group A with seven points, two ahead of Bahrain on five. Indonesia has three, while Qatar amassed just one point.

The loss at Beijing's Workers' Stadium ends Qatar's turbulent Cup campaign that started with the firing of French-born coach Philippe Troussier after an opening defeat to Indonesia. Now under former under-19 coach Saeid Al Misnad, the Qataris and star forward Seyd Bechir were unable to produce any major chances in the second half and go home with just one point from the tournament.

China's goal came in the 77th minute when Xu, who plays for Beijing Hyundai, locked onto a deflected ball off of Li Ming's corner kick, turning to head it past Qatari goalkeeper Qasem Burhan.

It wasn't clear yet who China would face in the semifinals, but Zheng said the team would boost its preparation no matter who the opponent was.

``Whoever we face, I don't think there are any teams in the Asia Cup that we can take for granted so we're going to prepare well,'' said forward Zheng Zhi.

China's best finish in the tournament was third place in 1976 and 1992. At Jinan, Ali opened the scoring for Bahrain in the 44th minute when Talal Yusuf beat two defenders to reach the corner line on the right, turning it back to Ali to unleash a blast into the net from the penalty spot.

Eleven minutes into the second half, A'ala Hubail increased the lead on a cross from his brother Mohamed from the right. Defender Warsidi Ardi clumsily stopped the ball only to have it roll over to the well-placed A'ala for a close-range shot.

Indonesia kept up the pressure and in the 75th minute Elie Eboy pulled a goal back with a right-footer from inside the area. But Talal Jusuf put it beyond Indonesia's reach just four minutes later with a tremendous, 25-yard free kick into the upper corner of the net that Kartiko couldn't reach.

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