China progressed to the knockout stage of the Asian Games soccer tournament on Saturday after a 3-0 victory over a eight-man side Malaysia affected by early fouls.

Li Jianbin's header, Zhao Honglue's free kick and Zhang Linpeng's penalty all from the second half put the host side to seal the second place of Group A, advancing to the next round with Japan.

Japan topped the group with three straight wins after they beat Kyrgyzstan 3-0 also in the night.

With a balanced 4-2-3-1 formation, China was dominant just after the opening whistle.

Defender Zhang Linpeng's powerful free kick seemed dangerous in the first minute, only seeing it punched away by the opponent's keeper Che Mat.

Playmaker Wang Yunlong made a series of dazzling footwork in the area after five minutes, but his high cross didn't find an in time follow-up teammate.

The turning point of the game came on 24th minute when the Malaysian defender Sjasuli challenged the linesman's judge on a sideline ball and picked up his second yellow card, leaving the ground.

Another shocking blow came on the visitor moments later when their captain Rahim was shown a straight red card as the referee thought the Malaysian midfielder had challenged his decision with dirty words.

In front of a nine-man side, China didn't score until the 61st minute after a bunch of chances were wasted.

Li Jianbian headed from far post and hit the dead corner with a curving angle to break the deadlock.

Four minutes later, Zhao Honglue's sharp and low free kick from the left side directly found the far corner, enlarging the host's lead to 2-0.

Center back Zhang Linpeng made the last shot with a penalty kick in 83rd minute when a third red card was showed on the Malaysia side after a foul in the area.

Wand Dalei, the first-choice goalkeeper, still didn't enter on the stage since his first start in the host's opening defeat 3-0 to Japan.

He had been "suspended and ordered to meditate on his action" after he responded to criticisms of the loss with outbursts filled with expletives on his microblog.

China will play the arch-rival South Korea in the last-16 clash.