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Chinese Soccer Team Arrive at Doha
China arrived at Doha on Sunday after a short journey from Muscat, Oman with a hope to kick away the jinx to beat Qatar in their third World Cup qualifier.
China, who got off to a perfect start with two wins from as many games in their seventh World Cup campaign, is to play on September 7 againsh Qatar, which garnered 4 points from 3 games, only two points shy of China.
This time, It will be also hard for China to beat Qatar, who are in high mood after beating UAE 2-0 in their last game, especially in the scorching heat of the Arabic peninsula.
"I hope my players will overcome the heat here to beat Qatar," said Bora Milutinovic, China's head coach.
"They played well in the past two games, and I have confidence in them," he said.
Chinese players seemed rather anxious about the prospect to play against Qatar when they were welcomed in the Doha international airport by waves of heat, whose temperature is as high as 50 degree.
"Will we beat Qatar? It depends on whether we can manage to cope with the terrible heat here, " said central defender Fan Zhiyi, who plays with England's Crystal Palace club, "Definitely it will affect our game. But we have the hope to beat them. "
China's substitute forward Su Maozhen is also much worried about the heat. He said: "To play in such a heat, we'll have to drink water constantly, but in the game you seldom have chance to drink something. So it will be very demanding."
China never beat Qatar in their all past six futile World Cup bids. In 1997, China lost 2-3 to Qatar on home turf in a key World Cup qualification match, and the loss directly lead to their debacle in their sixth campaign.
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