GROUP C

MALDIVES 0-3 CHINA

Shenyang: A Yu Dabao brace helped China return to winning ways courtesy of a 3-0 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifying victory over the Maldives on Tuesday.

The Beijing Guoan favourite struck in either half to add to a Zhang Linpeng as Alain Perrin’s charges went second in Group C behind table topping Qatar who won 3-2 in Hong Kong.

Having been held to goalless draw at home by Hong Kong last week, China were eager to make amends and went ahead in the eighth minute when Yu opened the scoring made the most of hesitant defending to score with an audacious lob from the edge of the penalty area.

Resolute play by the visitors did manage to keep the Chinese at bay until Yu doubled his tally with a firm header at the far post with 57 minutes on the clock.

Not to be outdone, Zhang added a third on 66 minutes for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup quarter-finalists as China ran out comfortable winners.

The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + 1 slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup.

HONG KONG 2-3 QATAR

Hong Kong: Qatar remained top of Group C in the second round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup and 2019 AFC Asian Cup joint-qualifiers after beating Hong Kong 3-2 at the Mongkok Stadium on Tuesday.

The visitors broke the deadlock when Karim Boudiaf put the regining Gulf champions in front 22 minutes into the the top-of-the-table encounter, a lead that Qatar held going into the half-time break.

Abdelkarim Hassan doubled the advantage on 62 minutes before Mohamed Musa scored with six minutes left to play as it looked as though Jose Carreno’s side would be returning to Qatar with a comfortable 3-0 win.

Hong Kong, however, registered two goals just before full time through Bai He (87’) and Godfred Karikari (89’), but it was too little too late for Kim Pan-gon’s side, who slipped to third spot in the group, with China edging the Maldives 3-0 in the group’s other game.

The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + 1 slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup.