CCTV9英语新闻：2018 World Cup qualifier: History favors visitors ahead of must win match for PRC（在线收听）

As China prepare for their do or die game, let's take a look at past encounters between the two sides. Although neither has ever made an impact in the World Cup finals, the previous matches during the qualification stages have always been entertaining. 

On October 28th 1989 China and Qatar faced off in a bid to reach the 1990 world cup.  Ma Lin opened the score for the Chinese but it would all fall apart moments before the final whistle. In the final 3 minutes the future world cup hosts managed to score twice to deny China a place in Italy. With results going their way a win would have been enough.

Eight Years later, Qatar managed to overcome a Gao Feng opener to eventually clinch a 3-2 win during qualification for France 98. The defeat saw China finish 3rd in the group and fail once again to reach the finals. 

The two teams met again in the last stages of qualification for the 2002 World Cup. Li Wei'feng's header meant it ended 1-1 in the first leg which was followed by a 3-0 victory at home in returning match, thanks to the goals from Su Mao'zhen, Qu Bo and Hao Hai'dong. The win is still their only win over Gulf nation as China reached their only world cup to date.

They went head to head once more in the qualification group stage for the World Cup in South Africa. Zhu Ting came close early on but when Gao Lin gave away a penalty Qatar ended up wining one nil, a result which, once again, prevented China from advancing.

Under the guidance of Frenchman Alain Perrin, China lost 1-nil in their previous meeting in October which cost Perrin his job.