China kept its hopes of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup alive after thrashing Maldives 4-0 on Thursday night in the second round match of their qualification tie. The victory takes China to second place in Group C, above Hong Kong.   

China started as the favorite against Maldives, ranked 154^th in FIFA ranking - 58 places below China. The Chinese team scored the opening goal in the second minute. Jiang Ning headed in Wu Lei's cross into Maldives net to open the scoring. Jiang Ning scored two more goals late in the game to complete a hat trick.              

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Before Ning's two late goals, Yang Xu scored in the 12^th minute to make it 2-0 for China. The final score finally of the game was 4-0, with China taking all the three points to become second in Group C.

This was China's first match under interim coach Gao Hongbo, who was appointed in February after coach Alain Perrin was fired in January following strings of poor results.

"We did the minimum of what we had to do and merely passed the test tonight," Gao told reporters.  "We had 40 shots, but only scored four goals. Of course, I am satisfied, but it's not like we were playing against a strong team, and we still have more work to do."

Jiang, the star of the match, said "I am proud to score a hat-trick for my country." However, he regretted not scoring more goals.

"We should have scored more, as goal difference could prove to be crucial and our goal difference is not high. We now need to focus on the next game with Qatar," Jiang noted.     

China must win against Qatar

China will play its final match in the second round of qualification against table topper Qatar on Tuesday. Qatar has so far remained unbeaten and has already qualified to the third round.

Anything less than a victory against Qatar would potentially end China's chances of qualifying into third round and eventually a place in World Cup 2018. China will also have to depend on other Group C results to qualify for the third round.

TagsChinese football, China vs Maldives, China Fifa World Cup