Crying game as China crash out of World Cup

Hong Kong are sunk 7-0 but it's not enough to see off Kuwait's challenge

China's World Cup soccer qualifying campaign came to an end as expected last night, but in the cruellest of circumstances. A 7-0 victory over Hong Kong was trumped by Kuwait's late surge against 10-man Malaysia, who they beat 6-1.

China were eliminated because Kuwait scored one goal more in the group.

'I am empty inside. I feel sad for the players, for Chinese football for everybody involved,' said coach Arie Haan, whose two-year spell ends automatically with China's failure to get past the preliminary round.

The 'miracle of football' Haan had prayed for in the pre-match build-up seemed likely to come to China's rescue. They scored twice immediately after the break to take a 5-0 lead, while Kuwait were still being held 1-1.

'At half-time it looked as if we had qualified, but we knew Kuwait were going to score again because they would take some risks. I was never thinking 'it's done',' Haan said.