China drubs RI 4-0 in Asian Cup
China drubs RI 4-0 in Asian Cup
TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AFP): China eased the pressure on coach Bora
Milutinovic here Monday, outclassing minnows Indonesia 4-0 in
their Asian Cup Group B match.
China, lucky to sneak a 2-2 draw against South Korea in its
opening match on Friday, produced a far more composed performance
albeit against much weaker opposition.
The result puts the Chinese on top of Group B with four
points, with Kuwait and South Korea both due to play later
Monday.
The victory also came as welcome relief to China's globe-
trotting Serb coach Milutinovic, who is hoping to get his team
into a winning groove.
Milutinovic has been hired with the long-term job of taking
China to the 2002 World Cup finals, but after a patchy start to
his tenure could not have afforded a poor result against one of
Asia's weaker teams.
The match was effectively won within ten minutes of the kick-
off, with China exploiting some lamentable Indonesian defending
to race into a commanding 3-0 lead.
Midfielder Li Ming opened China's account, nipping in to head
home a cross from Xu Yulong in the third minute.
Five minutes later China doubled its tally with a penalty.
Indonesia defender Warsidi lunged recklessly at Eintracht
Frankfurt striker Yang Chen, leaving Lebanese referee Ayad Nabil
no option but to point to the spot.
Shen Si stepped up to blast in past Indonesian keeper Hendro
Kartiko and make it 2-0.
The shell-shocked Indonesian defense looked vulnerable
whenever China attacked down the wings and its weakness on the
flanks was in evidence for the third goal.
Li Tie curled in a cross from the right and the impressive
Yang ghosted away from his marker to head in goal number three.
Yang was a constant menace to the Indonesian defense, creating
space with some intelligent darting runs off the ball. His
attacking partner Su also kept the Indonesian defenders on their
toes.
Indonesia, which had surprised Kuwait on Friday when it
battled to a valiant 0-0 draw, never looked like causing the same
sort of problems for the Chinese.
Hong Kong-based striker Rochi Putiray had a shot well-blocked
on 20 minutes and Slamet Riadi saw a 30-yard shot skim the bar
shortly before halftime, but those two chances aside, Chinese
keeper Jiang Jin was not tested.
China created plenty of chances to increase its lead, Yang
hammering a shot against the post on the stroke of half-time and
Li Tie smashing a shot against the bar shortly after the
interval.
China was able to dictate the pace of play throughout the
second half and seemed content to conserve energy with an eye on
Thursday's final match against the Kuwaitis.
Qi Hong wrapped up the scoring in the 90th minute, jinking
into the box to sidefoot home.
In Beirut, Host Lebanon kept its hopes of advancing to the
quarterfinals alive Sunday with a gutsy fightback to salvage a 2-
2 draw against Iraq.
A brilliant free-kick from golden-boy Moussa Hojej secured a
share of the spoils for the Lebanese who had looked to be heading
for defeat after going 2-0 down early on.
Iraq had been edging towards victory and a place in the
quarter-finals when Hojej struck, curling a right-foot shot into
the top corner of the Iraqi goal in the 80th minute.
Lebanon, thrashed 4-0 by Iran in their opening match, almost
snatched a sensational victory late in the game when defender
Jadir Morgenstern headed over from point blank range.