China moved closer to its dream of a home title yesterday when the hosts and Bahrain booked their berths in the Asian Cup quarterfinals by eliminating Qatar and Indonesia.

　　China defender Xu Yunlong scored a second half goal to see his team advance with a 1-0 victory over Qatar, while goals from Husain Ali, A'ala Hubail and Talal Jusuf lifted Bahrain past Indonesia 3-1.

　　China ended the first round of the Cup atop Group A with seven points, two ahead of Bahrain on five. Indonesia has three while Qatar amassed just one point.

　　"We made it a little bit difficult for ourselves today but we go forwards," said China's Dutch coach Arie Haan. "But I am happy for China because we are on the right road."

　　The loss at Beijing's Workers' Stadium ends Qatar's turbulent Cup campaign that started with the firing of French-born coach Philippe Troussier after an opening defeat to Indonesia.

　　Now under the leadership of former under-19 coach Saeid Al Misnad, the Qataris and forward Seyd Bechir were unable to produce any major chances in the second half and go home with just one point from the tournament.

　　Both sides squandered a number of chances in the first half, but it was China that emerged more composed after the break before a near capacity crowd.

　　China's goal came in the 77th minute when Xu, who plays for Beijing Hyundai, locked onto a deflected ball off of Li Ming's corner kick, turning to head it past Qatari goalkeeper Qasem Burhan.

　　With key forward Hao Haidong out injured, Dutch-born coach Arie Haan tried a series of combinations up front, at one stage substituting Manchester City defender Sun Jihai for forward Li Jinyu.

　　Sun almost added another goal minutes later, but his diving header crashed into the crossbar.

　　It wasn't clear yet who China would face in the semifinals, but Zheng said the team would boost their preparation no matter who its opponent was.

　　"Whoever we face, I don't think there are any teams in the Asian Cup that we can take for granted so we're going to prepare well," said forward Zheng Zhi.

　　China's best finish in the tournament was third place in 1976 and 1992.

　　At Jinan, aware of the importance of the match, Bahrain and Indonesia both started cautiously in front of about 5,000 spectators at the 44,000-seat Shandong Stadium.

　　Ali opened the scoring for Bahrain in the 44th minute when Talal Yusuf beat two defenders to reach the corner line on the right, turning it back to the Ali to unleash a blast into the net from the penalty spot.

　　Eleven minutes into the second half, A'ala Hubail lengthened the lead on a cross from his brother Mohamed from the right. Defender Warsidi Ardi clumsily stopped the ball only to have it roll over to the well-placed A'ala for a close-range shot.

　　Indonesia kept up the pressure and in the 75th minute Elie Eboy pulled a goal back with a right-footer from inside the area. But Talal Jusuf put it beyond Indonesia's reach just four minutes later with a tremendous, 25-meter free kick into the upper corner of the net that Kartiko couldn't reach.

　　(The Associated Press)