Goal in sight, despite brave defeat

Its qualifying prospects remain bleak and its winless run against Japan continues, yet Team China enjoyed a big morale-booster by making the mighty Samurai Blue bleed in a hard-fought Asian qualifier loss.

Roared on by a boisterous crowd of over 45,000 at the Egret Stadium in Xiamen, the Chinese men's team put up a gusty fight against Group C leader Japan in Tuesday's qualifier for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, restoring some dignity while keeping its hopes of advancing alive, despite a 3-1 defeat by its East Asian neighbor in Fujian province.

The loss, which has dragged China to bottom of the six-team group on goal-difference, was applauded by the majority of the team's long-suffering fans, though, given the players' much improved performance from the 7-0 mauling by Japan in September.

Hours after Team China's home defeat, Indonesia stunned Saudi Arabia by winning 2-0 in Jakarta, while fellow group underdog Bahrain held Australia to a 2-2 draw in Riffa, closing a dramatic night that left four teams sitting level in the group with six points apiece.

Japan stays unbeaten with five wins and one draw to top the group with 16 points, followed by the Socceroos who have managed to maintain a one-point edge above the chasing pack.

So far, so tight and everyone is still in the race to the 2026 Cup finals, which will be jointly held by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The top two teams from each group in the current third phase will qualify directly for the FIFA showpiece, with the third- and fourth-ranked sides advancing into a fourth phase to fight for the two remaining qualification berths.

Team China, despite lagging far behind fifth-ranked Bahrain in goal difference (-10), finally seems to have bonded into a competitive unit under Croatian coach Branko Ivankovic over the past three matches, which included victories over Indonesia and Bahrain.

"I believe Japan felt tonight that it wasn't easy at all for them to win this match. I don't think people would've expected us to play as tough as we did tonight after the first round's 7-0 defeat," Ivankovic, who took over Team China in March, said during the post-match news conference.

"We gave them a hard time tonight. We didn't let them leave unscathed. I am quite satisfied with my players' performance today. We stick to our game plan, executed well during most of the match and we have kept improving one match after another.

"This is a tough group, but we won't lose our confidence in trying to fight our way out of it."

The qualifying campaign will resume on March 20 when Team China challenges Saudi Arabia on the road before hosting Australia five days later.

With the fight for fourth-phase places heating up, Team China will approach its rematches against Indonesia in Jakarta and Bahrain at home in the final qualifying window in June as do-or-die battles.

"We have to accept the gap between us and the very best in Asia, yet that won't diminish our hopes for 2026. We shall keep pushing ahead with our biggest weapons, which are our ability to keep running and to keep fighting," Chinese striker Lin Liangming, who scored the goal against Japan on Tuesday, wrote in a Weibo post.

Apparently more cautious after conceding seven goals two months ago, coach Ivankovic went with a defense-oriented approach in his tactics to limit the space available for the Japanese to exploit.

It paid off for much of the first half, as the visiting Samurai Blue struggled to find way through and were consistently outnumbered and frustrated by the Chinese defense. At least, that was the case until a pair of headers, both from corner kicks, scored by Koki Ogawa and Ko Itakura, respectively, finally broke through the armor of the resilient host late in the first half.

Regrouped and recharged with the flag-flying, hard-chanting home crowd at its back, Team China pulled a goal back three minutes into the second half when Lin expertly flicked a low cross from Wei Shihao, during a lighting-fast counterattack, into the bottom corner of the Japanese net, sending the packed stadium into a frenzy.

It was the first goal Team China has scored against Japan in an official international match in five years since a 2-1 loss in December 2019 at the East Asia Cup. Yet, its disappointing winless streak against the world No 15 side extends to 16 matches, with Team China's last win over its neighbor dating way back to 1998. Over the past 26 years, it has lost 10 times in all 16 encounters against Japan.

Still, the improvement was acknowledged by its opponent.

"It was really a tough away match to play, especially the first half," Japan's right winger Takefusa Kubo told Chinese media after the match.

"They (China) changed the formation and the effect was obvious," the Real Sociedad player said through an interpreter. "I think they had a run in the second half that made me think that, if they could keep playing as they did during that period, they could win more matches in my opinion."

Japan's head coach Hajime Moriyasu gave credit to Ivankovic's men for adopting the right tactics.

"I believe China has a lot of potential, and they've played better in a fast-paced and more aggressive style. They are a completely different team from the last time we beat them," he said.