CHINA will play a friendly with Syria on Thursday ahead of its FIFA World Cup qualifier against Vietnam on Oct. 7. The Chinese side has been seeking suitable teams for warmup games after they lost to Australia and Japan in their first two ties of the final stage of the Asia World Cup qualification. “Through training and this friendly with Syria, we hope our players can improve on the problems exposed in the matches against Australia and Japan,” China assistant coach Xin Feng said. He said Zhang Linpeng, who was taken off the pitch after he twisted his waist only two minutes into the Japan game Sept. 7 in Doha, Qatar, is recovering well. So as the players who suffered minor injuries during the recent training period. “Zhang Linpeng can take part in some training now. The other players are feeling better,” he said. The defeats to Australia and Japan, in which China failed to muster a single shot on goal, made the Chinese side aware of the gap between itself and the Asian top teams. China needed to play high-quality warmups to raise its competence, said head coach Li Tie before they moved from Doha to Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates, to set up a one-month training camp. (Xinhua) | 