Netizens well accept China's Asian Cup qualifier draw

Huang Bowen of China reacts during their AFC Asian Cup 2015 qualifiers football match between China and Saudi Arabia in Xi'an city, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, On Nov. 19, 2013. The match ended in a 0-0 draw. (Xinhua/Cao Can)

Chinese netizens considered their national soccer team's 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia "acceptable" in a Asian Cup qualifier on Tuesday night.

Despite efforts from both sides, the Group C match ended with a goalless draw in Xi'an, Shanxi province, which left the home team on eight points behind leaders Saudi Arabia with 13. Iraq beat Indonesia 2-0 to stand in third with six points in other group match.

An online survey on Chinese portal Sina.com taken by more than 6000 Internet users showed that over half of them thought the result was "normal". About 30 percent of them reckoned that Chinese players had been fighting to the best of their abilities and the 0-0 draw was acceptable.

After five rounds of the group phase, China need at least a draw away at Iraq in the last round to advance, which seems a difficult journey as far as Chinese fans are concerned as 55 percent of the people took a dim view of China's Asian Cup finals prospect.