Second-half goals from defender Zhang Linpeng and midfielder Deng Zhuoxiang gave China the perfect start to their Asian Cup campaign as they beat highly-rated Kuwait 2-0 at the Al Gharafa Stadium on Saturday.
The more experienced Kuwaitis, who won both the West Asian Championship and the Gulf Cup last year, started as the stronger side against the youthful but more muscular Chinese, but the dismissal of defender Mesad Nada after 36 minutes left them exposed at the back and changed the balance of the match.
However, they were unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty after 12 minutes when China skipper Du Wei hacked down striker Bader Al Mutwa in the box and were also denied a goal when the ball appeared to cross the goalline just after halftime, but the Australian officials waved play on.
The result meant that China joined Uzbekistan at the top of Group A after the Central Asians beat hosts Qatar by the same score in Friday's opening match. Hosts Qatar, who have been celebrating landing the 2022 World Cup finals for the last five weeks, got a reality check on Friday when they lost 2-0 to Uzbekistan in their opening Asian Cup match. The Qataris lacked ideas, pace and direction as the Central Asian side, ranked 109th in the world, five places above them, largely controlled the match.
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