Saudi Arabia’s 10 men fight back to beat China
DALIAN, CHINA: China face a struggle to qualify for the 2026 World Cup as they followed their 7-0 drubbing in Japan last week with a 2-1 defeat against 10-man Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
China went ahead in the 14th minute in Dalian through an Ali Lajami own goal but failed to take advantage of Saudi midfielder Mohamed Kanno being redcarded a few minutes later.
Hassan Kadish equalised with a header from a corner before half-time and repeated the feat in the last minute of the 90 to spark wild celebrations from the visitors.
China, who had registered just one shot in their match with Japan, struggled to carve out chances despite their numerical advantage.
They paid the price when the Saudis, managed by former Manchester City and Italy coach Roberto Mancini, equalised through Kadish before half-time.
As the rain poured down after the break, China began to exert pressure on a tiring Saudi defence. Wang Shangyuan thought he had put China back ahead after bundling the ball home from a corner, only for the goal to be disallowed for offside.
At the other end, winger Salem al Dawsari went through on goal but his shot cannoned off the crossbar.
Both sides went in search of a winner, but it was Kadish who popped up unmarked again from a corner to power a header past China’s goalkeeper Wang Dalei.
Boos rang around the stadium at the final whistle with Croatian manager Branko Ivankovic the target of many fans’ anger.
“There are three very strong teams in our group, Japan, Australia, and Saudi Arabia,” said Ivankovic. “There are still eight games left. This game was a little better than the previous one. We still have hope in the upcoming matches.”
Hashtags “Chinese football. No hope” and “Ivankovic step down” began trending on social media platform Weibo minutes after the final whistle.