Keeping slim hopes alive

A narrow home win against Indonesia has helped Team China catch a breath in a struggle to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, but it may not be enough to keep its slim qualifying hopes alive.

After opening its third-stage Asian qualifier for the 2026 finals with three losses in a row, the bottom-ranked Chinese team in Group C snapped its disappointing skid with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Indonesia on Tuesday in Qingdao, Shandong province, yet advancing out of the six-team group remains a distant prospect.

Even having drawn level with winless Indonesia on aggregate points, Team China remains ranked last after four fixtures in the current stage, trailing the fifth-placed Southeast Asian side by goal difference.

Continental powerhouses Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia dominate the top-three spots, followed by an ambitious Bahrain at fourth.

Only each group's top two from the current stage directly qualify for the 2026 finals to be staged in the United States, Canada and Mexico, while, in the case of Group C, China has to battle against Indonesia and Bahrain for a fourth-place finish to squeeze into the next phase, where the final two qualification quotas for Asia will be up for grabs.

Still, the long-awaited first win from its second home game in the current phase has at least offered Branko Ivankovic's men a much-needed confidence boost, as well as a reason for the long-suffering Chinese fans to celebrate.

The standing ovation from a capacity crowd at the Youth Football Stadium after the Tuesday win has been a rarely-seen sight lately, with arguably the world's most tolerant group of fans left fuming at the team's lack of fight following its humiliating 7-0 rout by Japan and disheartening 2-1 home loss, even with an extra-man advantage, to Saudi Arabia last month.

Ivankovic, who's fallen victim to fan fury since the demolition by Japan, said the squad could finally lift its head above the water, at least for a short while.

"This win helped us relieve a huge pressure, even though we have a lot more tough battles to play," said Ivankovic, a 70-year-old Croatian, who took the Chinese helm in March.

"Indonesia is a tough opponent with a lot of naturalized players from Europe. They played aggressively. But we did a good job analyzing their playing style, prepared a good plan and our players executed it well tonight."

Despite starting strong to take a 2-0 lead with two strikes by forwards Behram Abduweli and Zhang Yuning in the 21st and 44th minutes, Ivankovic's men had to fall back in the second half when a surging Indonesia, bolstered by nine Dutch-born naturalized players, hit back, dominating possession and goal chances.