

Even after investing so many resources into getting better at football, China appears unlikely to achieve Xi Jinping’s World Cup dream any time soon, particularly after suffering a crushing defeat against Iran on Tuesday which almost completely erases any chance of them reaching next year’s tournament in Russia.

More than 100,000 fans packed into a 78,000-seat stadium in Tehran to watch as Chinese defenders bumbled their way into giving up a goal to Iran’s Mehdi Taremi just after halftime. Iran then held on to win the crucial match 1-0.

⚽️ | 🇮🇷 Iran 1 – 🇨🇳 China 0! 🇮🇷 Mehdi Taremi's strike just after the halftime whistle was the difference. Iran top Group A with 17 points 🔝 pic.twitter.com/x9ZDIHe2WD — PersianFootball.com (@FootballPersian) March 28, 2017



China was unable to build on its upset victory over South Korea last week in Changsha. With now 1 win, 2 ties, and 4 losses in their qualifying matches, China must win all of its remaining games against Syria, Uzbekistan and Qatar if it wants a chance at reaching the country’s second-ever World Cup (the first being in 2002 when they placed 31st out of 32 countries).



Watch highlights of the match below:



