When the team took the lead for the third time in the round of 18, the national football players finally did not let the victory slip away again. On the evening of October 15, Beijing time, 37,133 fans at Qingdao Youth Football Stadium witnessed the Chinese team's first victory in the round of 18. In the fourth round of the third stage of the 2026 US-Canada-Mexico World Cup Asian Qualifiers, with goals from Baihelam and Zhang Yuning, the Chinese team defeated Indonesia 2-1 at home, ushering in a timely victory after three consecutive defeats.
Before this round of games, the Indonesian team remained unbeaten with 3 consecutive draws, while the Chinese team, which lost 3 games in a row, was at the bottom with 0 points, and many players in the team suffered injuries of varying degrees. In the face of this game with no way out, the head coach of the Chinese team discharged the starting lineup of 442 diamond-shaped midfielders, with Zhang Yuning and Bai Helamu starting to partner in the front, and Gao Zhunyi and other players who had previously been injured appeared in the starting lineup, which also showed the team's breaking momentum.
In contrast, the opponent Indonesian team is in high spirits. Successive draws against strong opponents such as Saudi Arabia and Australia have injected confidence into the team, and the continuous addition of naturalized players from Europe has allowed head coach Shen Tailong to send as many as nine naturalized players out of the starting 11 against China.
After the start of the game, the Indonesian team playing away gradually took control of the situation on the field, but the Chinese team broke the deadlock first with set-pieces. In the 21st minute, the Chinese team won a free kick near the midfield, Li Lei hoisted the ball into the penalty area, and the high Zhunyi header at the back point was ferried, Jiang Shenglong grabbed the ball before the ball went out of the bottom line, and Baihelamu swept the goal near the small penalty area line to take the lead for the Chinese team.
This was the third consecutive game in which China had scored the first goal, having previously taken the lead against Saudi Arabia and Australia, but were eventually reversed by goals conceded near the end of the second half. The first half of this game was close to injury time, and there were goals on the field again, but this time the goal was replaced by the Chinese team. After a series of passes, Gao Zhunyi sent a precise diagonal plug with the outside instep on the left side, and Zhang Yuning, who arrived at the horse, scored a single knife to expand the score to 2:0.
At half-time, the Indonesian team changed three substitutes in one go in an attempt to strengthen the offensive. The Chinese team replaced the injured Li Yuanyi with Wang Haijian in the 60th minute. In the second half, the Indonesian team continued to control the tempo on the field, with nearly 80% possession. In the 85th minute, Hayer pulled a goal back after a volley from inside the box that was refracted and then scored. Subsequently, the Chinese team replaced Wei Zhen and Cheng Jin to strengthen the defense. After 9 minutes of stoppage time, the Chinese team finally maintained the score of 2:1 until the end and won the first victory since the start of the round of 18.
After this game, the Chinese team with 1 win and 3 losses accumulated 3 points and re-entered the competition for the top four in the group. On November 14, China will face Bahrain, the last opponent of the first round, away from home.
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