China paint it red on footballers’ face

India paid the price for a few defensive lapses to go down 0-2 to strong contenders China in their last Group C league match here at Yangsan today.

However, the Indians are still contention for a place in the quarter-final provided they finish among the two best second-placed teams from the six groups. Despite putting up a spirited display, the Indians could not counter their speedy Chinese opponents and conceded both the goals in the opening session itself to suffer their first defeat in three matches. They had earlier defeated Bangladesh and Turkmenistan.

Both the goals were scored by Yu Tyu. While the first goal came off a penalty in the 17th minute of the contest, Tyu displayed superb opportunism to slam in the second goal just one minute before the lemon break to the delight of his teammates who got vociferous support from a sizeable group of Chinese spectators.

India will have to wait for all the other group matches to end to know their fate in the 24-team championship.