Asian Games soccer begins [November 11 2010]

The first action at the 16th Asian Games was witnessed today even before the opening ceremony with the commencement of the football tournament. Defender Wu Xi was the hero for the host nation in the night when his last-gasp shot fired China to edge out a fighting Kyrgyzstan side by two goals to one and clinch a safe place in Group A to qualify for the next round in the Asian Games football tournament

Striker Lv Wenjun struck late to equalise and Wu netted the decisive goal after a bunch of shots were rejected by crossbar, post and the opponents desperate defence. The first victory helped the host stay in the quest for the last-16 berth after it lost 3-0 in its opener against Japan.

Japan had a comfortable two goals to nil win over Malaysia earlier in the day and led the group with six points. China now faces a must-win clash with Malaysia on Saturday as both sides get three points and Malaysia has one more goal difference. The hosts stand-in coach Sun Wei fielded a 4-2-3-1 formation onto the ground, replacing the starting striker Lu Wenjun with Li Kai as the centre forward.

China looked a bit loose at the beginning. The visitor geared up first and stunned the expectant crowd after just five minutes. A powerful free kick hit through the wall and Sidoren found the ball bounced back in the area, easily beating the helpless keeper Zhang Shichang to open the scoring.

In a group ‘D’ match of Asian Games soccer, India has a smooth passage, beating Singapore by four goals to one. In Group ‘F’, Oman had the better of Pakistan by two goals to nothing while Maldives held Thailand to an exciting nil-all draw