PATTAYA, Thailand, March 17 (Xinhua) — China beat Lebanon 4-1 with a robust comeback within the first group match on the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Beach Soccer Asian Cup 2023 right here on Friday.
China discovered themselves in a tough place within the eighth minute when Wang Cunde was given a pink card and Lebanon opened the scoresheet from the next free kick.
Chinese captain Liu Yisi was despatched off a minute later in one other blow for his workforce.
Both groups hit the woodwork a number of instances however the rating remained unchanged till China’s Cao Weiming tied the match, earlier than Li Yueming’s header within the thirty first minute gave China the lead.
With the match completely below management towards the depleted Lebanese aspect, Liu Haoran added one other two objectives, together with an overhead kick, to seal the victory for China.
Chinese head coach Marcelo Mendes believes that teamwork was essential for the comeback after shedding two key gamers as a result of pink playing cards.
“We were confident going into this game, and we finished coming back from a 0-1 lead to score four goals in the third period, which will boost our confidence in achieving our target to go to the next round,” Mendes informed a post-match press convention.
After securing the primary victory within the group stage, China will face defending champions Japan on Sunday in Thailand’s japanese resort metropolis of Pattaya.
“We will have a very difficult match against Japan without two key players, but we are going to fight again,” stated Mendes.
With a complete of 16 groups, the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup 2023 additionally serves because the qualifiers for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2023, which is scheduled to be performed in November.