China’s World Cup fire is alive after South Korea win, but there is still a long way to go: Marcello Lippi

Coach Marcello Lippi described China’s much-heralded win over South Korea on Thursday as keeping the Russia 2018 qualification “tinder alive for us” but the veteran World Cup winning Italian remained cautious ahead of next week’s daunting trip to group A leaders Iran.

Yu Dabao scored the only goal in the first half at He Long Stadium in Changsha as China recorded a first win of the final round of qualifiers despite sustaining heavy pressure in the second half from Asia’s number two ranked side.

The win, which was only China’s second in 32 previous meetings with South Korea, coupled with another surprise win for Syria over Uzbekistan, leaves Lippi’s side fifth in the six-team table but now just four points adrift of third which offers a place in the play-offs.

Unbeaten Iran extended their lead at the top of the table to four points with a 1-0 win in Qatar, with second-place Korea just a point clear of third place Uzbekistan, with Syria now only a point further back after following up last year’s win over China.

Watch: China 1-0 South Korea highlights

“The game was very critical for us considering the situation. A draw would have been meaningless, we had to get three points and we made it. We’ve still got a lot of work to do, and there is still room for improvement, but we need to get better in limited time,” said Lippi, who extended his unbeaten start in the qualifiers after overseeing November’s draw at home with Qatar.