China beat Vietnam at AFC futsal

In the first match on September 21, Vietnam lost to Japan 2-4, while China lost to Thailand 1-3.

Futsal is a form of indoor football played on a hard surface with five players per side.

So both Vietnam and China tried their best in this match to earn a ticket to compete in the next round.

In the 19th minute, Liu Jing opened the scoring for China. Vietnam fought back strongly with two goals of Pham Thi Tuoi and Nguyen Thi My Anh.

However, with better skills, China scored two more goals in the second half to end the match at 3-2.

"We played much better than yesterday and I wasn't afraid after Vietnam went up 2-1, even though our team is new and only recently organised. Japan is a powerhouse in Asian futsal but we will try our best to beat them tomorrow," China's coach Shan Zhiping was quoted as saying on the website the-afc.com.

Meanwhile, Vietnam's coach Truong Quoc Tuan said their players played well and created so many chances but in futsal, it is who scores that wins.

"We created many chances but our finishing was poor, although at times I think we were not lucky," Tuan said.

In another match played later, Japan defeated Thailand 3-2.

With two losses, the door to semi-finals nearly closes to Vietnam team. On September 23, Vietnam will meet Thailand in their final match of the group stage, while China face tournament favourites Japan, who were Asian Indoor Games gold medalists in 2007, 2009 and 2013.

The event, which has attracted the participation of eight teams, will conclude on September 26.