China, Tajikistan play to a goalless draw

China and Tajikistan played to a 0-0 draw at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium on Saturday within the first round of Group A matches of the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023.With a point each, China and Tajikistan are in second place in Group A behind Qatar, while Lebanon are the bottom of the group without points.At the beginning of the match, the Tajik team took control and put pressure on the Chinese team's goal in search of scoring the lead goal. Their first opportunity came through player Soirov, who converted a cross to go past the crossbar in the 17th minute. Their opponent responded with a quick attack by Wang Qiuming, which went over the crossbar in the 21st minute.Tajikistan continued their attempts after imposing their style. Safarov nearly delivered at the other end of the pitch when he charged forward to meet Dzhalilov's pass down the right, but his effort could not find its way to the Chinese target.With 10 minutes left, Xu Xin, also coming off the bench, curled an effort from 25 yards out, only for it to be parried away by a flying Rustam Yatimov save into a corner that was crossed for Zhu Chenjie who headed it into the back of the net, only for the goal to be overturned following a VAR review.Tajikistan will meet hosts Qatar on Wednesday, while China will play Lebanon.