AFC Women's Futsal Asian Cup
The hosts finished with nine points with Chinese Taipei three adrift as both advanced to the quarter-finals, while Uzbekistan will need to wait for the remaining fixtures to be completed to know if they qualify as one of the two best third-placed teams.
China PR were let off the hook in the third minute in front of a capacity-filled Hohhot Sport Centre when Feruza Turdiboeva laid the ball nicely for Gulzoda Amirova, who pulled her effort just wide.
Uzbekistan then felt the weight of China PR’s pressure as Ke Yaoxiang went close, with her effort crashing against the side netting before Xiong Jing’s shot from distance was blocked by keeper Angelina Polyshkevich.
The Central Asian side were caught off guard in the eighth minute when Ke latched onto Yu Ting’s pass at the top of the area before turning beautifully to convert from above the arc to give China PR the lead.
Uzbekistan clawed their way back in stunning fashion seconds later after Madina Vokhidova collected the ball deep inside the box before firing a grounded effort from the tightest of angles into the bottom left corner.
Both teams had then had opportunities to break the deadlock with Polyshkevich pulling off two fine saves to deny Zou Yinglan from distance and Fan Yuqiu from inside the box, while Turdiboeva and Safina Rushaniya failed to find the target.
Group A: China PR v Uzbekistan
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Uzbekistan were kept on their toes in the second half as China PR unleashed a flurry of attacks with Zhang Rui denied three three times by Polyshkevich.
Despite being limited to counter-attacks, Uzbekistan showed their quality with Vokhidova’s long range effort repelled by China PR custodian Liu Danping, who then made a brilliant stop to deny Turdiboeva from close range.
China PR’s persistence came to fruition as they retook the lead in the 32nd minute after Ke was quickest to react inside the box when she pounced on a rebounded effort to set up Zhan Zewen to drill the ball into the back of the net.
Ke then showed her class with three minutes left when she turned past her marker before striking home China PR’s third goal of the evening to seal the win.
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