China routed 5-1 at U-17 World Cup quarter-finals
(FIFA.com)
Updated: 2005-09-26 15:45

(ACTION IMAGES)

Flurry of Turkish goals after China raise hopes

At the interval, Ning Zhang attempted to spice things up by bringing on Jian Yang for Yifan Zhu in midfield. It would take more than that to knock Turkey out of their stride though, and when the excellent Erkin broke down the left wing, he cut back perfectly for Sahin to rifle in an unstoppable shot (3:0, 54'). That looked to be the end of the match as a contest, but the plucky Chinese mustered an almost immediate response through Jinjin Gu, who stole the ball from Erkan Ferin in the area before beating Volkan Babacan (3:1, 57'). "That goal came from a defensive error on our part," explained Avci afterwards. "We absolutely have to avoid that kind of thing in the future." Wherever the goal came from, the Asian side suddenly began to believe in their chances.

The match slipped into another gear as a spectacle and, in a sumptuous piece of approach play, Deniz Yilmaz put substitute Aydin Yilmaz in the clear only for the Galatasaray man to blast over (67'). Seconds later, the action switched to the other end and Dabao Yu had the ball in the net after an interlude of confusion in the Turkish area. His goal was ruled out for offside, however (68').