CHINA 2-0 QATAR

Xi’an: China produced a brilliant performance on Tuesday evening to advance 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.

While the Chinese still finished second in Group C, 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 Tuesday’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.

In the end, it 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 did rest a handful of key players including Hassan Al Haydos and Sebastian Soria.

And with the Qataris pushing more and more men forward as the game entered its final stages, 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.