China put itself into good position to advance to the finals of Asian
qualifying for next year's World Cup by beating visiting Indonesia 5-1 Sunday.
At Kunming, China overcame Kurniawan Yulianto's 40th-minute goal. Li Weifeng
tied the score in the 50th, Yang Chen put China ahead in the 62nd and Xie Hui
made it 3-1 in the 71st. Qi Hong added a goal in the 82nd and Xie scored again
in the 90th.
China (4-0) and Indonesia (4-1) are tied for the Group Nine lead. China, led
by former U.S. coach Bora Milutinovic, has two games remaining. If it beats
Cambodia (0-4-1) next Sunday at Guangzhou, to advance China merely must avoid
losing to Indonesia by four or more goals when they play again May 27 at
Jakarta.
The group winner joins Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and
Uzbekistan in the 10-nation Asian finals, which will produce two qualifiers for
next year's tournament in Japan and South Korea.
In the opening games of Group Five, Lebanon routed Pakistan 6-0 and Thailand
defeated Sri Lanka 4-2 in a doubleheader at Beirut.
Haitham Zein scored three goals for Lebanon, connecting in the fifth, 31st
and 87th minutes. Moussa Hjeij scored in the 49th, Gilberto Dos Santos
converted a penalty kick in the 51st and Rida Antar scored in the 90th.
Imthyas Raheem scored for Sri Lanka in the 20th and 50th minutes, but
Kiatisuk Senamuang scored in the 46th and 51st minutes to twice tie the game,
Therdsak Chaiman put Thailand ahead 3-2 in the 53rd and Thawatchai
Damrong-Ongtrakul added a goal in the 84th.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
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