China beat Kazakhstan 3:0 at the Asian Games on Thursday. The result puts the visitors top of their group with two wins from two matches. Kazakhstan remain in second place after their sole defeat of the tournament so far.
China have not dropped a point since the opening fixture. Their recent form has been straightforward — three clean sheets in five games before this one, with only a narrow loss to Thailand breaking the pattern. By then the gap at the top was already forming.
Kazakhstan showed flashes earlier, winning against the Philippines and Australia. But the loss to Indonesia and now this defeat against the leaders means they are staring at the drop if results do not turn. To be fair, they had been competitive in most of those matches.
The scoreline does not tell the full story, but it puts China in control of the group. Kazakhstan still have a chance to finish second, but they will need to dig in against whoever comes next. One mistake ends it when you are this far behind.
