Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Tashkent: A strong second-half performance helped China defeat Jordan 5-1 in Group B of the AFC Futsal Championship at Universal Stadium on Sunday to secure their first points of the campaign and leave their opponents pointless at the foot of the table.
With both teams already eliminated a largely uneventful opening period ensued as Ahmed Arab missed Jordan’s best chance before Li Jianjia struck the post with the goal at his mercy as the tie remained scoreless at the break.
But China went in front in the 25th minute through Zeng Liang before He Yihui and Wang Hongwei put Shan Zhipeng’s side firmly in control. Zhao Liang and Li added further strikes before Mutaz Shaikha grabbed a consolation for Jordan.
“Both sides played well, but in the first half we just couldn’t score,” said China coach Shan.
“In the second half we scored five times so I think we did very well. I want to thank my players for their performance.
“In this group, apart from Iran, the three teams were quite similar. The loss to Iraq was the key result."
China suffered a blow early on after a nasty collision left Liang Shiming unable to continue, but Cong Lin then fired the game’s first shot on target on five minutes to draw a comfortable save from Jordan stopper Khaled Awad.
Suhaib Hadib then called Wei Zheng into action but the China custodian was equal to the challenge as he pushed wide for a corner.
As the midway stage in the first half approached He laid the ball off to Zeng Liang, but his low drive went narrowly wide before Arab should have opened the scoring at the other end when presented with an open goal following Ahmad Al Ashran’s corner from the right.
China then came inches away from breaking the deadlock four minutes before the interval when He’s scuffed shot fell kindly to Li only for his effort from a yard out to rebound back of the post.
Five minutes after the restart Al Ashran clipped the top of the Chinese bar before Zeng finally opened the scoring when the ball broke loose to him on the edge of the area at the other end just seconds later.
And China then doubled their lead in the 31st minute when He twisted and turned on the left side of the Jordanian penalty area before thumping the ball left-footed into the roof of the net.
Worse was to follow for Jordan as Wang powered home a free-kick seven minutes from time and Zhao added a fourth from close in soon after.
Then with Jordan using the power play to try and salvage something from the tie, Li lobbed the ball over the top from well inside his own half and into an empty net before Shaikha scored a late consolation for Jordan.
“It was our first time to qualify for the finals, but we are disappointed with our performance,” said Jordan coach Salah Abu Jafer.
“In the second half our mentality wasn’t good and our lack of experience showed. I think after the game against Iraq the players lost their motivation and confidence.
“But we have around seven young players so there are many positives from the tournament as they are the future.”
Photo: Lagardere Sports