China PR striker Yu Dabao. (Photo : Getty Images)
The AFC 2018 World Cup qualifiers continue with a Group C match between China PR (3-1-2, 11 points) and Maldives (1-5-0, 3 points) to be held at the Wuhan Sports Center Stadium in Wuhan, China on Thursday, March 24th.
China is actually in danger of not advancing to the third round of the said qualifying tournament after they had settled for a 0-0 draw with neighborhood rival Hong Kong at the Mong Kok Stadium in Hong Kong on Nov. 17th of last year, as reported by Yahoo Sports.
Team Dragon is targeting a spot in the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, which would only be the second in the nation's history if they will be able to pull it off, and the result left them on the verge of being eliminated in the competitions.
Head coach Gao Hongbo's side is now in the third spot of the Group C table behind Hong Kong, who has 14 points, and group leader Qatar with 18 points with only two games left in their schedule.
The report noted that "only the eight group winners and four best second-place teams will progress to the last stage of Asia's road to Russia", which means that aside from China's two remaining games virtually must-wins for the squad, the results of other team's games is also a factor if they will advance.
If China beats Maldives and Qatar defeats Hong Kong in the matchday's other game, then Hongbo and company will be the second-placed team in the group and would have a chance to move on in the tourney.
Meanwhile, Maldives is coming off a tough 0-1 loss to Hong Kong in their most recent World Cup qualifying game on Nov. 12th of last year, as per the Hong Kong Free Press.
Brazilian-born Hongkongese striker Paulo Robspierry Carreiro, or Paulinho, scored the lone goal for head coach Kim Pan-Gon's side at the 13th minute to bury any chance the Red Snappers had in advancing to the final round.
The predicted result is another 3-0 victory for China PR.
China starting lineup (4-4-2 formation): Wang; Feng, Zou, Zhang, Mei; Zheng, Huang, Wu L., Wu X.; Yu, Yang
Maldives starting lineup (4-3-3 formation): Imran; Rasheed, Abdulla, Ahmed, Ali; Arif, Easa, Mohamed; Ashfaq, Abdulla, Nashid
