FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifiers: China's World Cup dreams fade as Saudi Arabia secures victory

China's path to qualify for the 2026 World Cup is looking increasingly challenging as they suffered a 2-1 defeat against a 10-man Saudi Arabia team on Tuesday, following their 7-0 loss to Japan last week.

China went ahead in the 14th minute in Dalian through an Ali Lajami own goal but failed to take advantage of Saudi midfielder Mohamed Kanno being red-carded a few minutes later. 

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Hassan Kadish equalised with a header from a corner before half-time and repeated the feat in the last minute of the 90 to spark wild celebrations from the visitors.

China, who had registered just one shot in their match with Japan, struggled to carve out chances despite their numerical advantage.

They paid the price when the Saudis, managed by former Manchester City and Italy coach Roberto Mancini, equalised through Kadish before half-time.

As the rain poured down after the break, China began to exert pressure on a tiring Saudi defence.

Wang Shangyuan thought he had put China back ahead after bundling the ball home from a corner, only for the goal to be disallowed for offside.

At the other end, winger Salem Al-Dawsari went through on goal but his shot cannoned off the crossbar. 

Both sides went in search of a winner, but it was Kadish who popped up unmarked again from a corner to power a header past China's goalkeeper Wang Dalei.

Boos rang around the stadium at the final whistle, with Croatian manager Branko Ivankovic the target of many fans' anger.

"There are three very strong teams in our group, Japan, Australia, and Saudi Arabia," said Ivankovic.

"There are still eight games left. This game was a little better than the previous one. We still have hope in the upcoming matches."

Hashtags "Chinese football. No hope" and "Ivankovic step down" began trending on social media platform Weibo minutes after the final whistle.  

China's President Xi Jinping once said he wanted his country to host and even win the World Cup one day, but corruption and poor on-field results have made that a distant dream.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Chinese Football Association slapped lifetime bans on 43 people over alleged gambling and match-fixing, including former China internationals and South Korean player Son Jun-ho.

China's football governing body has itself been under scrutiny -- about 10 high-ranking CFA officials have so far been brought down in corruption probes.

China have reached the World Cup only once before, in 2002, and are bottom of the six-team Group C after two defeats, with only the top two guaranteed a place at the 2026 World Cup in the US, Canada, and Mexico.

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