China failed to carry the momentum over from last week's surprise win against South Korea into last night's World Cup Qualifier match, falling 1-0 in a disappointing loss to Iran.
Mehdi Taremi scored the game's only goal just after halftime. Iran is the number one Asian team in the FIFA rankings and is currently undefeated in the third round of the Asian World Cup Qualifiers tournament.
The loss sets Team China, led by coach Marcello Lippi, closer to the brink of elimination. China currently holds the fifth place spot in the six-team group and is eight points behind Korea, which currently occupies the second of two automatically qualifying berths.
Lippi steered Italy to World Cup triumph in 2006, as well as three consecutive Chinese Super League titles with Guangzhou Evergrande between 2012 and 2014, and the Asian Champions League in 2013.
China will now need to win every single one of its remaining three games to keep its World Cup dreams alive. It's scheduled to play an away game against Syria on June 13, a home game against Uzbekistan on August 31 and another away game against Qatar on September 5.
China's first and only World Cup appearance was in 2002.
[Images via China Daily]
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