China lost to 10-man Kazakhstan 1-0 in friendly

DALIAN, Liaoning Province, June 7 (Xinhua) - China were handed their first loss under Gao Hongbo's second-spell stewardship when they lost to 10-man Kazakhstan 1-0 at a friendly here on Tuesday.

Nurgaliyev Azat scored the winner in the second half to disappoint the hosts who paid a heavy price for their profligacy.

China' s head coach Gao Hongbo believed his coaching team should be blamed for his side's inefficiency. "I am very disappointed at this result, we made some changes to our tactics, but I am not satisfied. Our coaching staff should be responsible for the loss," he said.

Gao, 50, made sweeping changes to the line-up of his team, as young talent Zhang Yuning, who scored a brace in China's 4-2 win over Trinidad and Tobago at the previous friendly last Friday, was benched while some Dalian-born players such as Wang Dalei, Li Xuepeng got the starting chance.

The hosts dominated the game from the beginning and missed a good opportunity with just three minutes into the game as striker Wu Xi saw his shot from the edge of box flew over the crossbar.

Fourteen minutes later, Chinese midfielder Rong Hao' s through pass put teammate Wu Lei clear of Kazakhstan' s defense, but his shot was blocked by a defender.

Kazakhstan also found the rhythm gradually and started to threaten China' s goal as attempts from Khizhnichenko Sergy and Konysbayev Ulan forced Wang Dalei to made fine saves.

The visiting team suffered a scare at the 44th minute when Ulan was stretchered off the field after being injured by China defender Ren Hang' s tackle.

China made several changes after the interval to enhance the attack but still could not find the net.

Kazakhstan's winning goal came at the 67th minute when Azat, who came off the bench in the second half, headed the ball over outstretched Wang Dalei into the net.

China made another threat as Huang Bowen' s freekick hit the post before Yu Hanchao' s header from close range was blocked.

The guest team was one player down in the 82nd minute as Akhmetov Yeldos got the marching order, but they held on to win the match. Endit