AFC Asian Cup 2023: China share spoils with Tajikistan

This was Tajikistan’s maiden AFC Asian Cup appearance.

Tajikistan came away from their first-ever AFC Asian Cup match with a valuable point after holding China PR to a 0-0 draw at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium on Saturday.

With Qatar having beaten Lebanon 3-0 in the opening match, the hosts now top Group A, while the debutants from central Asia will be encouraged by their spirited performance against Team Dragon.

Coach Petar Segrt’s men dominated play throughout the first half, ending their first 45 minutes of AFC Asian Cup football with 12 shots to their opponents’ three, more possession and more passes completed.

The Tajik crowd thought their side had taken the lead in the 26th minute when Alisher Dzhalilov picked up Ehson Panjshanbe’s pass inside the box and fired a low effort that ended up just wide on the wrong side of the Chinese upright.

Goalkeeper Yan Junling had to show the best of his abilities just after the half-hour mark as he was forced into a diving save to parry away Dzhalilov’s squeezed left-footed strike from inside the box.

China finally had their first sight of the Tajik goal 10 minutes before the break when the ball fell to Wang Qiuming following a corner kick, and the midfielder struck it on the half-volley, with the ball looking destined for the back of the net before it was blocked by a heroic Menucheckhr Safarov who threw his body on the way.

Safarov nearly delivered at the other end of the pitch when he charged forward to meet Dzhalilov’s pass down the right, but his effort could not find its way to the Chinese target.

It was more one-way traffic as the second half got underway with Dzhalilov going for the spectacular but his volleyed attempt to meet Panjshanbe’s cross from the right was blocked and went behind for a corner.

Coach Aleksandar Jankovic, looked to revive his team’s attacking fortunes by introducing fresh legs into the pitch and the China boss was rewarded for his tinkering with an avalanche of attacks in the final 15 minutes.

Substitute Xie Pengfei rose highest to head a cross from the left into the path of Liu Binbin who squeezed it past the Tajik goalkeeper from a tight angle only for defender Zoir Dzhuraboev to clear it off the goal-line.

With 10 minutes left, Xu Xin, also coming off the bench, curled an effort from 25 yards out, only for it to be parried away by a flying Rustam Yatimov save into a corner that was crossed for Zhu Chenjie who headed it into the back of the net, only for the goal to be overturned following a VAR review.

With a point each to start their respective campaigns, Tajikistan take on hosts Qatar at Al Bayt Stadium next, while China play Lebanon at Al Thumama Stadium in the other Wednesday fixture of the group.

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