China's World Cup hope crushed by loss to Vietnam

HANOI - China's slim hope of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was crushed by a 3-1 loss to Vietnam in the final round of 2022 FIFA World Cup Asian Zone qualifiers here on Tuesday, which is also the Chinese New Year's Day.

This is also the first win for Group B bottom side Vietnam, who registered seven losses in as many matches prior to the clash with China.

Cheered by home crowd, Vietnam established an early lead with Ho Tan Tai's header just nine minutes into the game and made it 2-0 seven minutes later as Nguyen Tien Linh netted home from close range the pass from Do Hung Dung.

China sent on Wei Shihao and Zhang Yuning for restart and Zhang found the net just six minutes later on a through pass from Wu Lei, but the goal was disallowed for offside.

China suffered a further blow in the 76th minute when Phan Van Duc slotted home outside the box to give Vietnam a comfortable three goal cushion.

Xu Xin scored a consolation goal for China in the final minute of stoppage time.

The defeat killed China's harsh theoretical chance of qualifying for the World Cup, as the team collected only five points from eight games.

Earlier on Tuesday, Japan beat group leader Saudi Arabia 2-0 to consolidate its second position with 18 points, only one point behind the Saudis. Oman will host Australia in the other match of Group B later on Tuesday.