With the home side within sight of a famous victory that would have put them on top of the table, Li Weifeng scored from close range in injury time after a goalmouth scramble to preserve China's unbeaten start to the campaign.

China top the group with seven points from three games while Qatar, having played one match more, rank in third place with five points.

The Gulf side led 31 minutes into the game after Bashid al Noobi scored with a superb 25-yard strike.

Qatar could have added to their advantage later in the first half when Mohamed al Enazi shot from 30 yards. However, the striker watched in agony as his shot rebounded off the crossbar.

Minutes later, al Enazi was one-on-one with goalkeeper Jiang Jin but the Chinese keeper managed to smother the attempt.

China, who have never qualified for the World Cup finals, came back into the match in the second half and their best chance fell to Qi Hong who fired from 35 yards.

China had other chances to score as well. Li Xiaopeng had one of their better efforts, but his shot was saved by Hussein al Romaihi in the Qatar goal.

Even after the Chinese grabbed their late lifeline, Qatar could have snatched victory, but veteran striker Mubarak Mustafa saw his shot saved by Jiang.

"Qatar really fought well," said China's coach Bora Milutinovic.

"We could have lost, but we managed a draw and we consider that a good result."

"The group is still open. We have five more matches to go. Anything can happen," he added.

Despite China's late equalizer, Qatar coach Dzemal Hadziabdic said he had no complaints with the result.

"There's no point in brooding over what might have been," the Bosnian said.

"We knew beating China would be difficult, but we came quite close. We played well for 90 minutes. We made one mistake in the defence and China punished us."

"There's no point in blaming anyone. Such is life," said Hadziabdic, whose team is now ranked third in Group B.

They were pushed out of second place by Uzbekistan who crushed Oman 5-0 in Tashkent to set up a mouthwatering clash with China in Shenyang on Saturday.

The Uzbeks are just a point behind the Chinese, but they don't travel well - they were beaten 4-1 by the United Arab Emirates on their only away match so far in the campaign.

The draw between China and Qatar came after a tense build-up to the match throughout the week.

Milutinovic angered local media and fans after belittling the tiny Gulf state's achievements on the football field.

After successfully keeping the local press at arm's length for two days, the Yugoslavian finally lost his cool when a reporter from a leading Arabic daily asked him about Qatar's chances.

"Where's Qatar on the international football map?" the Yugoslavian shot back.

"Show me, show me where's Qatar. What has Qatar done in football?" he continued while lavishing praise on the Chinese.

The story was played up by the Arrayah daily in its Wednesday edition, but Milutinovic himself appeared least concerned, neither confirming nor denying the quotes attributed to him.

"I talk to so many reporters every day, I can't keep track of what I say to everyone. In any case I don't read newspapers," he said.

Iran came from behind to beat bitter rivals Iraq 2-1 in Baghdad on Friday to take a two-point lead in Group A.

Iran face second-placed Bahrain in Tehran on Friday and victory would put them in sight of their second successive finals appearance - a factor recognized by coach Miroslav Blazevic after Ali Daei struck five minutes from the end in Baghdad to crown a fine comeback in front of 60,000 fans.

"We are happy because we have taken a big step towards our target. I think we are half way there," Blazevic said.

Iraq took the lead after 19 minutes but Ali Karimi brought Iran back after half an hour.

The game looked to be headed for a draw until Daei hit the winner to give Iran victory in their first game in Baghdad in 38 years; it also consigned the Iraqis to their third consecutive defeat in the group.

Iran now have seven points from three matches while Bahrain, who could only manage a 1-1 draw with Thailand in Manama, have five.

Kiatisak "Zico" Senamuang was the Thai hero firing home a 64th-minute equalizer after Khaled al-Dossari opened the scoring for Bahrain with a 17th minute free-kick.

Bahrain, playing in the second stage of the qualifiers only for the second time, came under fierce criticism from fans and media for their performance - but that produced an angry outburst from German coach, Wolfgang Sidka.

"I'm sitting here and you would think that we have just lost," he said.

"Are you so proud and confident that you think we can beat every team we play?"

"We are not such a strong side that we can easily beat Thailand. We are playing good football but I'm not a magician."

Saudi Arabia, who had a week off, are third in the group with four points from three matches.They face Thailand in Bangkok on Saturday.

Only the group winners are guaranteed a place in the World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea next year.

The runners-up in Groups A and B will meet in a play-off with the winner facing the second-placed team in European Group Two, which will be the Republic of Ireland or Portugal. The winners of that match will advance to the finals.

(China Daily 09/10/2001)