Seeds of growth as China claim historic win over South Korea, but too little too late for World Cup chances

China claimed a historic win over South Korea in Thursday’s Russia 2018 qualifier, but while the seeds of growth and development under a World Cup-winning coach were plain to see, it is still probably too little too late.

Beijing Guoan striker Yu Dabao grabbed the only goal after 34 minutes of the group A qualifier amid high security at He Long Stadium in Changsha as China claimed only a second win in 32 meetings with the side currently ranked second in Asia behind Iran and first of the final round of qualifiers.

But if Marcello Lippi had been appointed before they had picked up just two points from their first five games in the qualifiers for Russia 2018, the result may have carried more meaning for China and their chances at securing only a second-ever appearance at the World Cup finals.

“This is a very important match. I am very grateful to the head coach for giving me this opportunity to play,” said Yu.

“I feel very excited now that we can win. We were a bit tense in the beginning because it was a very crucial match and we were under a lot of pressure, so we didn’t carry out the cooperation like we did in training, but we played better and better after scoring a goal.”