China PR pulled off an impressive 2-0 blanking of Group C leaders Qatar in the final matchday of group stage competitions in the AFC 2018 World Cup qualifying tournament to advance in the final stage of qualifications and keep their hopes alive of finally advancing to the World Cup for the first time in 14 years.
After a scoreless first half of play where both teams looked shaky at the Shaanxi Province Stadium in Xi'an, China on Tuesday, head coach Gao Hongbo's men began to get fired up by the 46,718-strong pro-China audience especially when Guangzhou Evergrande midfielder Huang Bowen managed to net the game's opening goal 12 minutes into the second half, via ESPN.
"I am lucky," Bowen told reporters after the match. "My goal was a result of our teamwork and the guidance of (head coach) Mr. Gao. He told us maybe 2018 was the last edition for the players of age group from 1985 to 1989 and encouraged us not to give up even if there was only one percent of hope."
Team Dragon remained relentless for the rest of the match, scoring another goal at the 89th minute courtesy of Shanghai SIPG midfielder Wu Lei, and were determined to stop the visiting Maroons on their home field as it is the only way they could have a chance of advancing in the third round of the said tournament.
The third round features a round-robin, home-and-away format to be fought by the 12 qualifiers of the group stage. The teams will be bracketed into two groups of six teams each with the top two squads from each group at the end of the round qualifying to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The 12 qualifiers are composed of the top teams from each of the eight groups and the top four runners-up from the said groups.
China almost did not make it to the third round even after the Qatar win as the team was the sixth-best runner-up squad before the said game. Hongbo and his crew had to rely on Australia, the Philippines, and Iran beating Jordan, North Korea, and Oman respectively to outright barge in into the top four runners-up, as per Xinhuanet.