Hopes fading

Again, it's time to do the math — and to give up any fantasy of a quick fix once and for all.

Similarly, yet inevitably, Team China again sees its qualifying hopes for the FIFA World Cup hanging by a thread, after a 2-0 home defeat to Australia on Tuesday pushed the underachieving squad to the brink of elimination from the Asian qualifying tournament.

Failing to pick up a single point from its past three matches against Japan, Saudi Arabia and Australia, Group C's top three teams, has kept China agonizingly at the bottom of the six-nation group, with only six points from eight matches in the current third-phase qualifying tournament.