Heroic goalkeeper Li Hao drives Team China into U23 Asian Cup last four

An admirable defensive play has taken Team China a giant step further on its history-making run at the U23 Asian Cup with its quarterfinal win over Uzbekistan making the country proud.

As an absolute underdog facing a much-higher-ranked opponent, the Chinese youth squad, coached by Antonio Puche, defied long odds by beating Uzbekistan 4-2 in penalty shootout in its first ever quarterfinals at the U23 continental showpiece on Saturday to reach the final four for the first time at the tournament.

Team China's relentless defensive effort helped it prevail again as the squad executed coach Puche's pragmatic tactics well to hold the aggressive Uzbek side scoreless in 120 minutes before knocking its opponent off with a 4-2 penalty shootout win at the Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Chinese goalkeeper Li Hao proved the man of the game again, having already kept Team China a clean sheet in the group stage, as he fended off seven close-range shots on goal from Uzbek attackers during the regulation before saving Dilshod Abdullaev's spotkick in the shootout to help his team advance.

Team China will next face Vietnam on Tuesday in its first appearance at the semifinal stage at the U23 Asian Cup. Chinese fans flooded social media to hail the solid performance of 21-year-old Li, who previously had a stint with the reserve team of Spanish club Atletico Madrid before making regular appearances in the Chinese Super League for Qingdao West Coast last season.

With another heroic performance on Saturday, Li has made 23 successful saves in the ongoing tournament, the most by any goalkeeper.

Ranked 50th in the world and fifth in Asia, Uzbekistan, which had dominated Group C with two wins and one draw, entered the match as a hot favorite, yet soon realized its strong attacking performance during the round robin wouldn't work against a disciplined Chinese squad, which surprisingly beat Australia 1-0 in its only win in Group D.

The first five kicks in the shootout were converted by the two sides, respectively, with Team China leading 3-2 before Behruzjon Karimov and Yang Haoyu missed, with Li then saving Abdullaev's attempt to set up Wang Bohao to score the winning penalty to take his through.

The U23 squad's respectable effort, despite its toothless attack of scoring only one goal during regulation in four matches, has served up China's long-suffering soccer fans a much needed comfort at the international stage, more than half a year after the country's senior team missed out on FIFA World Cup qualification for a humiliating sixth straight times in June.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn