“I’m very happy with the result. I can’t remember the last time a China PR team scored five goals. This result is very good for the country," said Djurdjevic. "We have a very talented group of players.

“I told my players before the game that this match would be difficult. We were under some pressure as hosts, playing in front of our fans, but in the end, we secured the three points."

“We are through but before we focus on the second stage, we have one more game against Australia, and we will give our best to get a positive result.”

Two consecutive defeats meant elimination for Kyrgyz Republic, leaving head coach Serhii Puchkov frustrated. 

“The red card for Artem Istrashkin threw a spanner in our game plan,” said Puchkov. “We conceded another goal after but managed to reduce the damage with our second goal but it was not enough.

“I’m very disappointed with the result but our job is not over, we still have the match against Qatar.”