Xi’an: China produced a brilliant performance on Tuesday evening to keep alive their hopes of advancing to the next round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers after defeating Qatar 2-0.

Following a goalless first half at the Shanxi Stadium, Huang Bowen fired the hosts ahead with a terrific effort before Wu Lei struck right at the end to seal the victory for them.

However, the Chinese – who finished second in Group C – will have to wait to find out if the result was enough to send them through to the third round of the World Cup qualifiers, as well as straight to the 2019 Asian Cup as one of the four best runners-up.

With the Qataris having already wrapped up top spot before Tuesday’s clash, it was China who had more on the line but the opposition¹ were also looking to maintain their perfect streak² in the campaign by claiming an eighth consecutive³ victory.

This resulted in a keenly-contested opening 45 with both sides being restricted to efforts from distance, although it was arguably Gao Hongbo’s charges who were more deserving of being in front at halftime.

Nonetheless, their persistence⁴ paid off in the 57th minute when they finally took the lead after the visitors failed to clear their lines, allowing Huang to pounce⁵ on a loose ball on the edge of the box and drill a low shot into the bottom corner.

Having fallen behind, Qatar did show more urgency in their bid to find the equaliser but the Chinese were impressively dominant⁶ at the back and were rarely troubled, although their opponents were without a handful of key players including Hassan Al Haydos and Sebastian Soria.

And as the Qataris pushed more and more men forward in the final stages of the game, the hosts were able to capitalise a minute from time when Wu Lei’s darting⁷ run into the box was picked out by an incisive⁸ pass from Hao Junmin.

Despite being closely followed by a defender⁹ and facing a tight angle, the Shanghai SIPG midfielder clinically fired a left-footed shot past Amine Lecomte to cap off a fine display by his team.

The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + 1 slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup.

绝境逢生!在昨晚的西安，国足打出了本次世预赛最精彩的一战。在生与死的边缘，国足的小伙子们血性爆发!

面对一道单选题和一道多选题，国足意志坚定，全力攻下自己可以主宰的那道单选题。带着必胜的决心，国足将士们三军用命，黄博文为国足打开胜利之门，武磊为国足锁定胜局。

天助自助者!在与国足命运相关的其他场次较量中，澳大利亚队率先战胜约旦队，让中国队顺利通过多选题的第一关;其后菲律宾队在最后时刻送给“朝鲜队”黑色三分钟，让中国队惊险的通过第二关;随着伊朗队与阿曼队全场比赛的哨音吹响，中国队顺利通过第三关，完成五选三的多选题，时隔15年再次杀入世界杯亚洲区预选赛决赛阶段的比赛。

足球梦是中国梦的重要组成部分，中国男足时隔15年再次出线，站上荣誉之巅，让胜利梦复苏。长安福特作为足球梦的鼎力支持者，也与万千球迷一起，积极为中国足球的腾飞而努力。

有梦想，胜利就永无止境。期待国足在12强赛的表现，期待国足能够杀入2018俄罗斯世界杯!