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Syria rally to beat 10-man China 3-1 in AFC U-23 Championship

Xinhua, January 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

Syria came from behind to upset 10-man China 3-1 here on Friday in Group A of the ongoing AFC U-23 Championship which also serves as the Rio Olympic qualifying tournament.

The top three finishers of the 16-team tournament will represent Asia to Rio. China, which had lost 3-1 to host Qatar, could hardly survive the group with two losses. If Qatar can not beat Iran later in the second round of the group stage, China will be the first team out of the tournament.

Almost a replica of the China-Qatar game, today's duel witnessed a strong Chinese team in most time of the first half, and playmaker Liao Lisheng from Chinese Super League champions Guangzhou Evergrande gifted China a 1-0 lead with a brilliant freekick in the 21st minute, just as what he had done against Qatar.

However, a fatal mistake made by Chinese left back Mi Haolun in the last minutes of the first half gave Syria the best chance at the goal mouth. To prevent the goal, Chinese keeper Du Jia blundered against the opponent and got a straight red card.

Ace striker Omar Kharbin cashed the penalty kick and Syria managed to control the game against 10-man China since then.

Kharbin scored his second goal in the 54th minute and Mahmood Al Baher sealed the win for Syria on 83 minutes.

China coach Fu Bo said that his team played well in the first half but the young players made too many errors when they were in the lead.

Liao Lisheng, the most experienced player of the Chinese team, attributed the loss to the lack of experience of most players. "Many of us did not play enough high-level matches, and we paid back today," he said.

China will face their last group rival Iran next Monday. Endit