Keeping slim hopes alive

Amsterdam-born midfielder Thom Haye scored in the 86th minute to give the home crowd a jittery finish.

Team China, however, withstood the Indonesian counterattack to keep the one-goal margin safe through a tense nine-minute stoppage time, avoiding another second-half collapse as it did in the first home game against the Saudis.

"Congrats to Team China for the win. They showed a stronger desire for victory today," said Indonesia's head coach Shin Tae-yong of South Korea.

Ivankovic, a target of the angry chants of Xia Ke! Xia Ke! (step down!) from the crowd following the loss to Saudis, hailed the Chinese fans' unwavering support as a strong source of strength.

"The fans gave us huge support as our 12th player, and we paid them back with three points," said the former manager of Chinese Super League club Shandong Taishan.

"It was a hard-fought effort worthy of celebration but we shall move on and set our focus on the next opponent, Bahrain."

In the next window of qualifiers, Team China will clash with Bahrain on the road on Nov 14 before hosting group leader Japan at home five days later.

Entering the third stage as an underdog, the world 76th-ranked Bahrain proved it was underrated by stunning 25th-ranked Australia 1-0 in Melbourne, following a loss to Japan and a tie with Indonesia, and will put up a fight to bolster its qualification chances against China on home soil.

The lack of discipline and resilience in defense, particularly under pressure late in the game, rang alarm bells for Team China. The team conceded 13 goals in four games, the most of all 18 teams in the third stage.

Hopefully, the home win on Tuesday will help his teammates regroup mentally for a better performance, said captain Wang Dalei.

"The fans didn't give up upon us no matter how poor we played in the earlier matches. We also carried a lot of pressure on our shoulders that affected our performance," said the 35-year-old goalkeeper, who was called up by the senior national team for the first time at 17 in 2006.

"Now we are in a different state of mind after finally getting the monkey off our back. We are so happy and motivated to keep improving," said Wang, who currently plays for Ivankovic's former CSL club Shandong Taishan.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn