Hebei China Fortune and China PR striker Jiang Ning. (Photo : Getty Images)
China PR (4-1-2, 14 points) will try to continue their 2018 World Cup hopes alive as they clash with undefeated Group C leaders Qatar (7-0-0, 21 points) on March 29th, Tuesday at the Shaanxi Province Stadium in Xi'an, China as the AFC 2018 World Cup qualifier's group stage winds down.
The top teams in all the eight groups plus the best four runners-up will advance to the third round of the qualifiers where the top four teams will then qualify for the FIFA World Cup in Russia in 2018.
China hammered Maldives, 4-0, in the previous matchday last Thursday at the Wuhan Sports Center Stadium to stay in the hunt for a World Cup berth, as per Xinhuanet.
Hebei China Fortune striker Jiang Ning scored a hat trick at the second, 84th, and 90th+1 minutes to lead Gao Hongbo's side over the lowly Red Snappers. Striker Yang Xu's goal in the 12th minute completed China's four-goal haul in the game.
The win gave Team Dragon its fourth victory in the Group C standings, which officially eliminated neighborhood rival Hong Kong in the third round of competitions.
China is currently in the sixth spot of all the runner-up teams, which means this game against Qatar is virtually a must-win if they want to have a chance of qualifying in the next round.
Meanwhile, Qatar blanked Hong Kong, 2-0, at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha also last Thursday to stay unbeaten, as reported by Daily Mail Online.
Strikers Hassan Al-Haidos and Sebastian Soria scored at the 20th and 87th minutes respectively to give head coach José Daniel Carreño's side their seventh win of the group stage. They have the chance to sweep Group C if they win against China in this last matchday.
Qatar is actually assured of a spot in the third round and is one of the teams that are expected to qualify to the world competitions in Russia.
The predicted result is a tough 1-0 win for China to give themselves a chance to move on to the third round of the qualifiers.
China starting lineup (4-4-2 formation): Zeng; Feng, Zhao, Ren, Li; Yu, Hao, Wu L., Wu X.; Yang, Jiang
Qatar starting lineup (4-4-2 formation): Lecomte; Musa, Kasola, Hassan Yasser; Khoukhi, Tabata, Assadalla, Boudiaf; Al-Haidos, Soria
