Jiang in superb show for China

Jiang Ning was the supersub of China.

He needed only two minutes to score the winner against hosts, the UAE, to secure his country's berth in the quarter-finals of the ongoing 10th Asian Under-17 Football Championship.

The Chinese should also thank Thai referee Kunthama Adunyachart and his first assistant Hassan Hussain from Yemen for failing to see the clear handling that enabled Ning to overcome UAE's defender Tilal Abdulla before facing the home goal keeper Ismail Obaid, 11 minutes before the final whistle.

China consolidated their leadership of the first group with six points from two matches while the hosts have still a good chance of reaching the quarter-finals as they have a last match against India to take the second spot in the group despite the fact that even the best two-third placed teams in the three groups have also reached the quarter-finals.

Frenchman, Georges Korac, the head coach of the UAE, made some changes in the line up that started their opener against Myanmar. Ismail played in goal replacing injured Yousuf Abdulla.

Thani Jumaa played in defence replacing injured Nasir Khamis and Ahmed Jumaa played in attack alongside Abdulla Al Noobi, replacing Omar Abdul Rahman.

The home team played a defensive first half leaving the attacking initiatives to the visiting Chinese who lost many scoring chances with Ismail, the home custodian in a class of his own, saving his team from an embarrassing result.

Thani was the hero of the UAE in the back line. He covered many blunders committed by his colleagues in the right side of defence and cleared many dangerous shots, some of them just before crossing the goal line.

The Chinese pressed hard against the home team's goal in the last 10 minutes. They have a series of sitters that came their way but Ismail and Thani were alert and made brilliant saves that kept their net clean.

The attempts started in the 37th minute when Bai Long crossed form the left flank and Wang Yongpo headed from inside the six yard area but Ismail saved with a sliding tackle.

Two minutes later, Mao Jianqing crossed and Jiang Chen's shot defeated the UAE's goal line but Thani saved before the ball crosses the line for a goal.

A minute on, Yongpo went past two defenders but his shot was miraculously saved by Ismail. The first half came to an end with Chen's shot from inside the penalty box shaving the upleft.

The UAE came to the match in the second half with the Chinese settling for defending their net and trying to build counter-attacking moves to reduce the pressures upon their goal. It was evident that the humidity has sapped the strength of the visitors.

Both defence lines started applying the one-line-defence with a record cases of off side being awarded by the referee and his two assistants specially in the first 15 minutes.

Korac brought in Omar Abdul Rahman to replace Ahmed Jumaa in attack as Ahmed was dragging his feet and seemed exhausted, 13 minutes after the breather. But despite the better organised moves of the UAE they still lacked the finishing touch and failed many times to break through the rock solid Chinese defenses.

Liu Chun Ming, the Chinese coach, brought in Ning, 32 minutes into the second half and two minutes later he received a pass from Li Benjian, who came in eight minutes earlier. Ning used his hand to control the ball but the referee and his assistant did not see him and went on to score the most important goal that sent his team to the quarter-finals.

Six minutes before the end, Saeed Al Saygh, the UAE captain, sent a curling free kick that was saved brilliantly by Tian Xu, the Chinese custodian, for a corner.

The UAE had a good chance to equalise as Omar was sent clear by Al Saygh in the last minute of injury time.

The Chinese defender, Hao Qiang committed a professional foul to stop him from scoring and the referee sent him off, Salim Abdulla sent the result free kick just over the cross bar to the dismay of the few supporters of the home team who came to see the match.

The UAE will play their last match on Thursday against India. Victory will send them directly to the quarterfinals.