China coach Alain Perrin promised to celebrate in style after substitute Sun Ke fired his team into the Asian Cup quarter-finals.
Sun’s superb individual goal just two minutes after coming on gave China a 2-1 win over Uzbekistan and their first Asian Cup quarterfinal in 11 years.
The win was a triumph for Perrin’s tactics, the Frenchman tinkering with his personnel and formation as the Chinese overpowered
Uzbekistan in a pulsating second half.
Perrin said: “After the first match (a 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia) we had just a small celebration within the coaching group. This time I think I will ask my players to join us.”
Man of the match Wu Xi revealed that the celebrations had already started, with team personnel dancing on the dressing room tables after the match and diving into the ice baths.
After trailing 1-0 at half-time to a 22nd minute goal from Odil Ahmedov, China levelled through Wu after 55 minutes, before Sun’s 68th minute stunner.
With Uzbekistan seeming to tire in Brisbane’s heat and humidity, Sun picked up the ball 35 metres out, drove to the edge of the box and unleashed a powerful strike, beating the despairing dive of keeper Ignatiy Nesterov and finding the bottom left-hand corner.
Uzbekistan coach Mirdjalal Kasimov refused to blame the conditions for the second-half fadeout.
“It was very, very hard to play in such kind of weather conditions,” he said. “But both teams were in the same situation, so it wasn’t just our problem.”
The win means China are now certain to top Group B and will meet either South Korea or Australia in Brisbane in the quarter-finals on January 22.
“Today we played a beautiful match, now we can move to the knockout stage as the group winners,” said Perrin, whose team went into the match brimming with confidence after upsetting Saudi Arabia.
Uzbekistan must now beat Saudi Arabia in their final group game if they want to progress to the final eight. Kasimov added: “All my players did their best and they played well, but China was better after their first goal.”
