China's World Cup dream dampened after 1-0 lost to Qatar

　　Qatar scored a 1-0 upset at China in a World Cup qualifier Saturday on Sebastian Soria's first-half penalty.

　　Soria converted from the spot in the 14th minute and Qatar held on for the win despite conceding the bulk of possession to a lackluster China attack.

　　Before the match Petrovic promised his side would attack and he was true to his word in the early stages as Gao fired a high ball that narrowly missed barely 30 seconds into the game.

　　In the 11th minute, Chinese captain Zheng Zhi beat his man near the right touchline and blasted over a cross to Zhu Ting whose right-footed flick hit the post.

　　But the chances soon dried up for China as the Qatari back line, anchored by Brazilian-born defender Marcone Ameral, repeatedly frustrated their advances.

　　In the second half, China appeared tentative and overly patient in their attack, while the Qataris packed their back line and were content to run time off the clock.

　　Qatar could have made it 2-0 with 18 minutes left but Soria's free kick was scrambled clear by 'keeper Sun.

　　As the over 40,000 Chinese fans began shouting catcalls at their players, the team's frustration with Qatar's time-wasting tactics boiled over in a series of altercations between the two sides.

　　It led to Sun Jihai being off from the Chinese bench with 11 minutes left for remonstrating with the referee.

(责任编辑：十七)