Maldives coach Ricki Herbert will look to Tuesday’s international against Bhutan for his team to bounce back from their FIFA World Cup loss to China.
China won the World Cup qualifier 4-0 against Maldives in Wuhan on Thursday, to keep alive the country’s hopes of going through in Group C. The win lifted China into second spot, above Hong Kong, and the Chinese play group leaders Qatar in Xi’an, China, on Tuesday.
Striker Jiang Ning, who had not scored an international goal in seven years, scored a hat-trick against the Maldives while Yang Xu scored his team’s other goal.
Maldives worked hard to try to narrow the scoreline but striker Hassan Naiz missed two good opportunities while Easa Ismail nearly converted from a goalmouth scramble just before half-time.