China's women's football team beat the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) 2-0 in a tough 2018 Asian Games Group B qualification match held in the Jakabaring Sports City stadium on Wednesday evening.
The win raises China's chances of making it into the quarterfinals. Despite seeing less of the ball, China had more shots on goal.
China's first goal was scored by Wang Shuang in the 8th minute as she managed to escape from DPRK's tight defense.
China's second goal came from a corner kick, which was well met by the team's top scorer Wang Shanshan.
China's coach Jia Xiuquan was ejected from the game in the 90th minute as he protested the second yellow card issued by the referee to the Chinese player Zhao Rong.
"We had a difficult time throughout the match, but we were not afraid of them, [we were] still confident as we had the benefit of experience from our previous group matches," China's goalkeeper Zhao Lina said after the match.
She said that her team analyzed the DPRK in anticipation of the meeting between the two sides.
China's win against DPRK came amid the team's caution in taking on the DPRK, one of Asia's best women's football teams.
Jia said previously that China seldom win against DPRK, adding that China only wanted to perform well and use the Asian Games for match practice.
China beat China's Hong Kong 7-0 and Tajikistan 16-0.
Meanwhile, DPRK recorded victories against China's Hong Kong and Tajikistan in their previous group qualifying matches.
