China into Asian Cup semis as Iraq lose the plot

China's Hao Haidong (R) celebrates scoring against Iraq with teammate Li Jinyu (L). China marched into the semi-finals of the Asian Cup, sending plucky Iraq packing with a hard-fought 3-0 victory in a game marred by a 20-man brawl and the sending off of the Iraqi goalkeeper.

China marched into the semi-finals of the Asian Cup, sending plucky Iraq packing with a hard-fought 3-0 victory in a game marred by a 20-man brawl and the sending off of the Iraqi goalkeeper.

China secured a last-four showdown with 2002 World Cup semi-finalists South Korea or Iran, who play in Jinan Saturday, with strikes from veteran forward Hao Haidong and two penalties by defensive lynchpin Zheng Zhi.

But the game deteriorated towards the end as Iraqi frustrations boiled over. A challenge by Qusay Munir on Manchester City's Sun Jihai led to a mid pitch ruck while goalkeeper Ahmed Ali was given his marching orders in the closing minutes for appearing to aim a headbutt at Sun.

Embarrassed Iraqi coach Adnan Hamd apologised after the match.

"I am thankful to the people of China for their support and I want to apologise for the actions of our goalkeeper. He will be punished by us," he said.

Despite the ruckus, China were worthy winners, and coach Arie Haan went away a happy man.

"Of course I am satisfied with the victory as we knew it would be tough," he said.

"We played brilliant football in the first half, it's a pity we didn't make more of our opportunities. In the second half Iraq put us back in our half but we got the better of them in the end. It was a very good victory."

Trusty goal machine Hao set them on their way in the eighth minute with a well taken strike.

Hao was not expected to play, after missing China's group game against Qater with an ankle injury picked up during China's 5-0 drubbing of Indonesia last week.

But Haan felt confident enough in the 33-year-old's fitness to include him in the starting line up alongside midfielder Shao and defenders Li Weifeng and Li Ming who had also been carrying minor knocks.

An in-form China made their intentions clear from the kick off, pushing forward and creating two good chances in the first few minutes.

Li Ming came close in the second minute, drilling a shot into the side netting while Hao was involved in a goalmouth melee a minute later, with Iraq desperately scrambling the ball clear for a corner.

China players (white) and Iraq players (green) argue in their quarter-final game in Beijing. China marched into the semi-finals of the Asian Cup, sending plucky Iraq packing with a hard-fought 3-0 victory in a game marred by a 20-man brawl and the sending off of the Iraqi goalkeeper.

Iraq looked overawed by the occassion and the barrage of early pressure paid off when Hao beat the offside trap to latch onto a ball lobbed over the defence by Li Ming.

He chested it down before driving it through the legs of goalkeeper Ahmed Ali.

Spurred on by a vocal 62,000-strong Workers Stadium crowd, Hao was convinced he'd scored again in the 14th minute only to find the referee had disallowed the goal for offside.

With Bundesliga star Shao dominating the midfield, China should have made more of their chances.

But Shao fluffed a clear-cut opportunity midway through the half while Hao smashed a low drive into the side netting on the half hour.

While outclassed in the first half Iraq, who beat the odds to qualify for the Asian Cup after seeing football facilities shattered by war in their homeland, returned from the break with a new lease of life.

The potent attack they had shown in the group stages returned to create all sorts of problems for China.

Their best chance came in the 66th minute when Salih Sadir made the most of space on the edge of the box to drill a low shot goalbound only to see Liu Yunfei turn the ball onto the post.

But unable to get back onto level terms, rash challenges were made and Shao won a penalty in the 81st minute and the mid-pitch fight soon followed as Iraq lost the plot.

Zheng sealed the win, converting an injury time penalty after Ahmed struck Sun.