China beats RI 5-1 in W. Cup ties

China beats RI 5-1 in W. Cup ties

BEIJING (AFP): China beat Indonesia 5-1 Sunday in a group nine
qualifier of the World Cup Asian zone tournament, which brought
China to the lead in the group with nine points.

China is followed by Indonesia, Cambodia and the Maldives.

Indonesia had the lead in the first half, with unmarked
Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto scoring in the 40th minute.

But China snatched the victory by scoring five goals in the
second half.

Key defender Li Weifeng unwittingly tapped the ball home in
the 50th minute and Yang Chen headed home at the 62nd minute to
put China 2-1 ahead then Xie Hui scored at the 71st minute.

Qi Hong scored in a goalmouth melee in the 82nd minute to make
it 4-1 and Xie Hui scored again in injury time to wrap up China's
5-1 victory before a packed home crowd of 50,000 at the Tuodong
Stadium in Kunming city in southern Yunnan province.

"I am very glad that our team played a brilliant second half,"
the Xinhua news agency quoted Bora Milutinovic, head coach of the
Chinese team, saying at the press conference.

Benny Dolo, head coach of the Indonesian team, said his
players demonstrated they had made big progress having led in the
first half.

"The Chinese team is obviously stronger than our team, but
they looked not as good as we expected in the opening 45
minutes," Dolo told Xinhua.

The home team had a terrible first half, dominating the field,
but it was the lowly Indonesia who opened the scoring in the 40th
minute.

Striker Kurniawan received a low corner from the right in the
middle of the box and blasted a sizzling goal into the Chinese
gate.

The Chinese bombed Indonesia's goal in wave after wave,
forcing eight corners in the first half, but they could not
penetrate their opponent's tight defense.

After the break, the Chinese team, which had beaten the
Indonesians 4-0 at the Asian Cup last October, used their height
advantage to launch many air attacks. Their efforts paid off
quickly when Li Weifeng touched a loose ball to level the score
in the 50th minute.

Nine minutes later, Yang Chen put the Chinese team 2-1 when he
caught a left corner with a header.

Xie Hui added another goal for China 10 minutes later when his
close shot deflected an Indonesian defender's leg.

In the 79th minute, Qi Hong received a lob cross from Xie Hui
and netted it home. Xie Hui wound up China's shooting spree in
the dying minute with another header.

Indonesia team captain Sakti Bima was quoted by Xinhua
sounding unimpressed with the Chinese team.

"I think the two teams are at the same level. ... The Chinese
like to score with their heads, but football is performed by
feet, not by head," he was quoted by Xinhua saying.

China will play against Cambodia in Guangzhou on May 20.