China kept the hope for the Athens Olympics after beating Iran
3-1 at home in the Asian Olympic soccer qualifier Group A match
Saturday evening in Wuhan, central China.
The victory was the first for the Chinese, who collected four
points from the opening three qualifiers but trailed by five points
behind group leader South Korea with three matches to go.
"We're happy to win the match and keep a glim hope for the
Athens Games," said Chinese Under-23 coach Shen Xiangfu. "I want my
players to go on fighting for it."
Xu Liang scored an own goal on nine minutes in his abortive
effort to stop Iranian lone forward Moharram Navidkia, helping the
visitors for an early lead.
Just four minutes later, defender Zhang Yaokun converted from
the spot to level the score for China after an Irainian defender
committed a foul in the penalty box from a corner kick by the
hosts.
As neither side was willing to accept any kind of a draw in
their battles to catch up with South Korea, both sides geared up
their attacks in the second half.
An Iranian defensive loose helped China turn over the scoreboard
for a 2-1 lead when substitute Gao Ming volleyed home a perfect
cross from midfielder Yu Tao in the 70th minute.
Ten minutes later, Chinese skipper Du Wei scored his header to seal
the 3-1 win over the West Asian soccer powerhouse.
"As you know, we are in the most difficult time, but we still
got so much support from our fans. I want to say 'Thank You' to all
of them. They helped us win the strong Iran," said Shen.
Iran's coach Mohammad Mayelikohan said he had never thought of
losing the match.
"I've never imagined that we would lose it. I really did not
expect it," said Mayelikohan. "I think Chinese fans are great. They
cheered for China during the whole 90 minutes. It really affected
us a lot. "
"Now South Korea and China have more hope than us," added
he.
Iran holds three points to stay third in Group A, and only the
group winner will qualify for Athens 2004.
(Xinhua News Agency March 28, 2004)
