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China, 1-0 at AFC Asian Cup, face Qatar tonight

Wednesday, 12th January 2011 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

Chinese national team head coach Gao Hongbo
Chinese national team head coach Gao Hongbo
After posting a 2-0 win over Kuwait in its first game of the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011, China plays host Qatar tonight at 7:15 local time (Beijing time, 12:15 a.m. Thursday). Qatari soccer has one huge recent victory, its selection to host the 2022 World Cup; and one huge recent flop, the 2010 Asian Games' most inexcusable missed goal. The team is coached by Serbian Bora Milutinovic, who led China in its only FIFA World Cup appearance, in 2002. They come in off of a 2-0 loss to Uzbekistan.

Milutinovic is not the only former Chinese national team coach at the Asian Cup — England's Bob Houghton, who coached China from 1997 to 1999, is leading India.
The Chinese team, coached by Gao Hongbo (高洪波), is the country's youngest national team ever. Its two goals against Kuwait came from 21-year-old Zhang Linpeng and 22-year-old Deng Zhuoxiang.

China's final Group A game will be Sunday, January 16 against Uzbekistan.

Gao Hongbo image: YHNEWS.com.cn

Tags: AFC Asian Cup, football, soccer