Late Zhang winner reignites China's World Cup dream, Saudis hold Australia

The top two finishers in each of Asia's three qualifying groups advance automatically to the 2026 finals in North America while the third and fourth placed nations progress to another phase of preliminaries.

SCORER: China's Yhang Yuning 

CHINA reignited their World Cup qualification hopes with a last-gasp 1-0 win over Bahrain in Riffa thanks to a Zhang Yuning strike after Herve Renard marked his return to the Saudi Arabia dugout with a 0-0 draw against hosts Australia on Thursday.

The Chinese moved to six points from five games with Zhang's 91st minute winner, the result pulling Branko Ivankovic's side level with the Australians and Saudis and four points behind Japan in Group C as the qualifiers reach the halfway point.