Karim Boudiaf's first-half goal was enough to see Qatar maintain their 100% record in Group C of the 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint-qualifiers as the reigning Gulf champions edged China 1-0 on Thursday. The France-born Lekhwiya midfielder scored the only goal of the game 22 minutes into the Match Day 4 clash at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium as Qatar chalked up their fourth win in as many matches.
The defeat not only sees China remain level with Hong Kong on seven points in the Group C standings, five behind the leaders, it also continues their poor record against Qatar in FIFA World Cup qualification.
Prior to Thursday's Match Day 4 meeting China have won just once in seven FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Qatar - a 3-0 home win in the campaign to reach Asia's first hosting of the tournament in 2002 - having also not tasted victory in Doha, with the 1-0 loss following 1-1 draws in the qualifiers for France 98 and Japan/Korea 2002 before a goalless stalemate on the road to South Africa 2010.
The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + 1 slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup.
