Victory on Thursday in front of a sell-out 47,000 crowd in Shenyang would have sent China into the final qualifying round for the 2026 World Cup. Instead they were the inferior side for long periods and missed a penalty, before Zhang Yuning rescued a point with 11 minutes left in a deflating 1-1 draw. President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to win the World Cup, but they have only reached the tournament once, when they lost all three games and failed to score a goal in 2002.
