Tags
Marcello Lippi's hopes of leading China to the next World Cup received a serious blow when they were held 0-0 by Qatar in Kunming on Tuesday.
Lippi is tasked with setting China on the road to football greatness but there was no dream start for the Italian in his first game in charge.
Instead China remain rooted to the foot of Group A with two points from five games and scant hopes of reaching Russia 2018 even with Lippi, who coached Italy to the 2006 World Cup title.
A packed Kunming crowd came with high expectations but Qatar's Andres Quintana caused early panic before his attempt from a corner went wide.
Jiang Zhipeng's long-range free kick nearly caught Qatari goalkeeper Saad al-Sheeb napping before Wu Lei also drove a fierce shot narrowly off-target.
China continued to carve out chances after the break and Qatar had al-Sheeb's instinctive save to thank when he tipped Wu Xi's diving header over the bar.
Subsitute Cao Yunding hit the side netting but China were unable to craft the breakthrough against 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar, who stay second from bottom on five points.
There are no comments.
SPORT Saying goodbye is never easy, especially when you are saying farewell to those that have left a positive impression. That was the case earlier this month when Canada hosted Mexico in a friendly at BC Place stadium in Vancouver.
TECHNOLOGY Some 60mn primary-school-age children have no access to formal education
CULTURE Lekhwiya’s El Arabi scores the equaliser after Tresor is sent off; Tabata, al-Harazi score for QSL champions
ARABIA The Yemeni Minister of Tourism, Dr Mohamed Abdul Majid Qubati, yesterday expressed hope that the 48-hour ceasefire in Yemen declared by the Command of Coalition Forces on Saturday will be maintained in order to lift the siege imposed on Taz City and ease the entry of humanitarian aid to the besieged
ARABIA Some 200 teachers from schools across the country attended Qatar Museum’s (QM) first ever Teachers Council at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) yesterday.
ARABIA The Supreme Judiciary Council (SJC) of Qatar and the Indonesian Supreme Court (SCI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on judicial co-operation, it was announced yesterday.
ECONOMY Sri Lanka is keen on importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar as part of government policy to shift to clean energy, Minister of City Planning and Water Supply Rauff Hakeem has said.
