China defeats 10-man Kuwait

China recorded its first win in a Group A match of the AFC Asian Cup to stay joint top with with a confidence-booster 2-0 win over 10 man-Kuwait at the Al Gharafa Stadium on Saturday.

Two second half goals was all the new generation Chinese players needed to stave off the challenge from a determined and enterprising Kuwaiti side.Both sides had a number of scoring opportunities and the scoreline could have been rich, had both sides not missed most of those chances

Speaking in a post match conference, Gao Hongbo coach of China said, "I am very happy to win this game, the first thirty minute of the tie was controlled by Kuwait but we recovered and took our chances well."

On the red card on Kuwait's Mesad Nada, Gao said, " Irrespective of the dismissal, my players were determined to win the game."

Kuwait's Serbian born coach Goran Tufegdzic said, "It was an important but the red card affected our plans."

Goran was critical of the referee and hopes necessary disciplinary actions be taken considering a goal scored by Kuwait and not seen by the referee and its officials.

Goran said, "The referee made so many mistakes and am sure he will be punished."

China went ahead in the 57th minute when highly rated central defender Zhang Linpeng scored a superb goal off a deflection. Zhang who captained China in the last Asian Games in Guanghzhou collected a pass outside the box and fired a right footer shot from 30 yards to register the first goal.
The second goal came of the foot of Deng Zhuoxiang in the 67th minute, when his 25 yards free-kick beat Nawaf al Khalid and capped it with a man of the match award. Deng is remembered for scoring a brilliant individual goal against Korea Republic in 2010 and a memorable goal against France prior to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

However, it was Kuwait who started off better than the Chinese side with Yousef Nasser and Walied Ali threatening in the opening minutes. China gradually got into its best and started creating opportunities through excellent display of passing and movement.The likes of Zhao Xuri, Qu Bo and Zhao Peng threaten Kuwait on a number of occasions.
A penalty appeal was turned down by the referee when China's Du Wei was hacked down inside the box as early as the 12th minute.
The Chinese closest goal effort came in the 21st minute when Qu Bo was cleared free in front of the Kuwait goal but his effort was parried for a corner kick.
With pressure mounting Kuwait's Mesa Nada unnecessarily kicked a Chinese player in the 35th minute to get the referee's marching order.
Kuwait's Bader al Mutwa's effort was the flash point of the first half as his opportunistic cross went over the goal line but was not counted for goal because referee Benjamin Williams from Australia and his assistants did not see it.

China looked more aggressive in the second half and came very close to scoring on a number of times. On the other hand, Jarah al Ateeqi, Fahad Enezi pressed for an early goal

Walied Ali's 25 yard free-kick beat the Chinese wall but goalkeeper Yang Zhi made a fantastic save to deny the 100 capped Kuwaiti play-maker.

With a man down the defence line of Kuwait was exposed and on the 60th minute a build-up from Zhao Xuri finds Yang Xu whose close shot was too high.

China pressed for more goals in the second half with left back Rong Hao coming close on two occasions.

His dazzling dribbles of the left wing was a persistent threat and in the 79th minute his low cross inside the box was missed by two Chinese attackers.
Bader al mutwa's 40 yards effort capped a poor display by the much talked about star attacker from Kuwait.
The next round of matches will be on Wednesday as China plays Qatar while Kuwait faces Uzbekistan.