Hosts China finished the World Cup Indoor Five-a-Side East Asian Zone qualifiers with an unblemished record after crushing Japan 7-4 in their last round-robin match at the Hongkou Sports Stadium in Shanghai yesterday. China, represented by Shanghai champions Shen Hua, were in a class of their own in the four-team tournament - having demolished Hong Kong 13-5 and South Korea 9-5 in their two earlier games. South Korea defeated Japan and Hong Kong to finish second in the qualifiers but only China advance to the finals in Spain. Hong Kong and Japan drew their match 3-3 but the territory placed last with an inferior goal difference. 'The Chinese are more experienced in five-a-side soccer and they played a more fluent game than any of the other teams,' said assistant Hong Kong manager Ken Ng. 'Shen Hua put four goals past us before we even settled down and although we tried hard, we never actually gave them a serious challenge.' Hong Kong showed marked improvement in their second game against Japan when they twice took the lead in the first half through Au Wai-lun and Tim Bredbury, but the Japanese fought back and equalised each time for a 2-2 half-time score. The Japanese scored soon after the restart, but Hong Kong levelled the tally with Au notching his double. Hong Kong started the game against South Korea without Yau Kin-wai, who was sidelined with an injury sustained in the previous match. The speedy Koreans opened up a 3-0 lead at half-time before Bredbury pulled one back early in the second half. Hong Kong pressed hard but could not beat the tough Korean defence and they eventually ran out of steam towards the end. The Koreans grabbed the opportunity to score four goals in the last three minutes to complete a 7-1 drubbing. Said Ng: 'I'm very pleased with our effort against the Japanese, who gave us a lot of pressure but yet we managed to force a draw. 'We were under-strength against South Korea but everybody played their hearts out and we did give them a good run although the scoreline suggests otherwise.'
