Players of China acknowledge the crowd after winning the 2018 FIFA World Cup football qualifying match against Bhutan in Thinphu, capital city of Bhutan, on June 16, 2015. China won 6-0. (Photo: Xinhua/Guo Yong)
China beat Bhutan 6-0 in Thimphu on Tuesday night, enjoying a flying start in their FIFA Russia World Cup Asian Zone qualifying campaign.
The Group C has seeded China, Qatar, Hong Kong, Bhutan and Maldives.
As a team consisted of amateur players, Bhutan fought hard and showed high spirit in tonight's game. Its goalkeeper Hari Gurung denied many shots from the opponents and the score stood at 0-0 near the end of the first half.
It was Yang Xu who opened the scoring in the injuring time of the first half. He also lunched a hat-trick ever since. In the 47th minute, Yang's ball "stumbled" into the goal of Bhutan.
Bhutan did not give up though lagging behind. At the beginning of the second half, Chencho Gyeltshen, the so-called "Bhutan Cristiano Ronaldo", launched two threatening strikings, making China's goalie Yan Junling stretch twice.
However, the amateur players were gradually dominated by professional Chinese and finally lost 6-0 at home.
"The earlier we scored, the earlier we would have them collapsed. However, the opponents'struggle and their home advantage made our first goal later," said Yang Xu.
"But after we scored, we gradually found the pace," Yang said.
Last Thursday, Hong Kong beat Bhutan 7-0 while Qatar defeated Maldives 1-0.
