奇速英语

赞！世界杯亚洲12强赛，国足1比0力克韩国队

CHANGSHA, China, March 23—China's hope to qualify for the 2018 World Cup has been rekindled(重燃) as Italian coach Marcello Lippi led Team Dragon to a 1-0 home win here on Thursday, March 23th.

Yu Dabao headed in the Wang Yongpo corner in the 34th minute to give China the first win in six matches at the third phase of the World Cup Asian Zone qualifiers.

“Before the match, we knew the importance to win this match. And we worked hard to get the three points we must get. But it isn’t enough to win a ticket to the World Cup. We need to continue this momentum and win the following matches,” said Lippi, who will lead China to visit Iran in five days.

The victory temporarily moved China out of the bottom of the 6-team Group A. With four games left, China, collecting five points in the provisional fifth place, still has chance to earn a qualification ticket.

“In the first half, we played too defensively in front of the opponent's pressure. Yu's goal from Wang's corner was what we trained lots of times in the past week,” said Lippi. “It wasn’t our best form and lineup. We can do better in the next match.”

China took the lead after 34 minutes when Wang's inward curving corner found Yu at the near post, where the Beijing Guo'an striker glanced at a precise header into the bottom-right corner. However, there were worrying times after the re-start for the host when goalkeeper Zeng Cheng made several brilliant saves to deny close shots from Ki Sungyueng and Ji Dongwon.

Both sides played open in the last 30 minutes. China threatened the visitor when substitute Wu Xi struck a long shot to force an excellent save from Kwoun Suntae. Wu Xi then preserved China's lead with a dramatic goal-line clearance, blocking with his chest from a header by Hong Jeongho.

Over 30,000 fans cheered non-stop for their home team in the 95 minutes at He Long Stadium, where China improved their unbeaten record with five wins and four draws since 2005.