China downs Thailand 2-0 to keep qualifying hope for London Olympics

JINAN, China, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- China made a 2-0 victory over Thailand to remain their hope of advancing to the 2012 London Olympics at the Asian women's soccer qualifying tournament here on Monday.

China now sits at the third place with five points after two fruitless draws with South Korea and DRP Korea, and a win over Thailand. World champions Japan tops the table with nine points from three consecutive wins, while DRP Korea ranks second with seven points.

China must beat Asian Cup winners Australia (with three points) and Japan in the next two games to secure a ticket.

Striker You Jia opened the scoring in the 40th minute with a funny goal from Thailand keeper's error. You caught the wrong-taken goak kick before dashing into the box to fire a low shot to beat a helpless kamolrat Pannipa. It's the hosts' first goal in the tournament.

Substitute forward Xu Yuan sealed the victory with a header following a corner on 80 minutes.

China had several other good chances during the game, but some bad finishing of the attackers just squandered all of them.

China will play Australia on Sept. 8.