KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — There was good news and bad news for China in its quest to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
China kept its hopes alive Thursday night with a 4-0 victory over Maldives in the second Asian qualification round for the Cup to finally move above Hong Kong into second place in Group C with a crucial game coming in Xi’an, China, Tuesday against Qatar, the group leader.
But the bad news is that even a win over Qatar may not be enough to prevent China from crashing out of qualification at the penultimate stage for the fourth successive time.