South Korea suffered a stunning 1-0 loss to China in the World Cup qualifying campaign on Thursday.

South Korea surrendered the winner to Yu Dabao in the first half to pick up their second loss in the final Asian qualifying round for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Both South Korea and China are in Group A, along with Iran, Uzbekistan, Qatar and Syria.


 

The defeat at Helong Stadium in Changsha, China's Hunan Province, leaves South Korea in danger of losing No. 2 spot in the group. The Taeguk Warriors are stuck at 10 points with three wins, one draw and two losses and could drop down to third place depending on the match result of Uzbekistan and Syria later.

Uzbekistan began the day with nine points.

Only the top two teams directly advance to the World Cup in Russia, while the third-place team must go through playoff rounds to enter the world football's showpiece event.

China ended their winless drought in the final round after two draws and three losses. They also avenged their 3-2 defeat to South Korea in Seoul last September.

South Korea fell to China for the first time since 2010, when they were blanked by the Asian neighbors 3-0 at the East Asian Cup.

South Korea, however, still boast a superior head-to-head record against China with 18 wins, 12 draws and two losses.

South Korea, looking for its ninth straight World Cup appearance, will next face Syria in Seoul on Tuesday.

South Korea and China met amid growing tensions between their governments over the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery. In what appear to be retaliatory actions over South Korea's decision to install the U.S. anti-missile system, China has banned sales of South Korea-related tour packages and cracked down on business operations of some South Korean companies.

To prevent possible violence against South Koreans, nearly 10,000 police officers were also in attendance at Helong Stadium with some 30,000 Chinese supporters. (Yonhap)