China's national football team faces a crucial match against Qatar on Saturday at the 2010 World Cup qualifier. A win could ease China's pressure to qualify for the game; a loss or draw, however, would dampen the country's hope to enter the final round.
China had won three draws, taking the third in the Group One with three points. Australia topped the group with seven points, followed by Qatar, with four points. Iraq, though stayed at the bottom, still had chances to be qualified.
China still has three games ahead, two home games against Qatar and Iraq, and one road game against Australia.
The prospect for the four teams remained unclear. "After the fourth round, no one will be qualified, yet no one will be out of the game," Qatar's head coach Jorge Fossati said in a press conference.
However, one thing was certain for China: the team could bear no more winless games.
If China took another draw, the chance of entering the final would be smaller. It would have to rely on other games' results to decide its own fate.
"We will spare no efforts to win the game," China's head coach Vladimir Petrovic said on Friday. "We have prepared many ways to attack, and I am sure tomorrow's match will be different."
He said he was fully confident in those strikers. "The question is when to score, and how to score more."
(Xinhua News Agency June 7, 2008)