By Gil Mar Moriones
MANILA--China gave the Philippines a rude beating in their first match in 17 years, trouncing them with an 8-1 beatdown in a one-sided friendly at Guangzhou's Tianhe Stadium.
With the gap of 44 places in the FIFA Rankings clearly evident, the East Asians just trounced ASEAN's top side as they showed prowess and domination proving their remarkable standing in Asia as both teams prepare for vital away qualifiers six days from now.
On the 4th minute, Ren Hang opened the match on his effort assisted by Yin Hongbo's corner. Hongbo dropped another dime 22 minutes later as he cooperated to Xiao Shi to double their lead.
But the Azkals took an advantage to the defensive lapse committed Marcello Lippi's men, as Misagh Bahadoran pounced on an empty net strike to reduce the deficit in half in the 33rd minute.
However, it was all China as Yu Hanchao settled matters at the stroke of half time to make it 3-1 at the half
China was in-charge to the second half of the match as they goals taking advantage to the defensive issue of the Azkals, in which Thomas Dooley gave JPV Marikina's Camelo Tacusalme a long overdue debut for the country.
Wang Yongpo (54'), Yin Hongbo (57'), and Zhang Xizhe (68') padded more goals to the home side, with the last of those three goals came a minute after he was denied by Patrick Deyto from the spot.
Deng Hanwen cemented the final touches with a 10-minute brace on both feet in the 71st and in the 81st minute.
This is the biggest lost for the national team since their shining start last 2010 in the AFF Suzuki where they beat the defending champions Vietnam, 2-0.
On June 13, they will take Tajikistan for their second campaign trail in the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers in Dushanbe while on the same date, China will be against the Syria on their third World Cup Qualifying match in the neutral ground of Malaysia.
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