CHINA suffered its first loss under head coach Gao Hongbo’s second spell when the side lost to 10-man Kazakhstan 1-0 at a friendly in Dalian, Northeast China’s Liaoning Province, on Tuesday night.

    Nurgaliyev Azat scored the winner in the second half to disappoint the hosts.

    Gao said his coaching team should be blamed for the loss.

    “I am very disappointed at this result, we made some changes to our tactics, but I am not satisfied. Our coaching staff should be held responsible for the loss,” he said.

    Gao, 50, made sweeping changes to the lineup, as young talent Zhang Yuning, who scored a brace in China’s 4-2 win over Trinidad and Tobago at a previous friendly last Friday, was benched while some Dalian-born players such as Wang Dalei, Li Xuepeng started.

    The hosts dominated the game from the beginning and missed a good opportunity with just three minutes into the game as striker Wu Xi saw his shot from the edge of the box fly over the crossbar.

    Fourteen minutes later, Chinese midfielder Rong Hao’s through pass put teammate Wu Lei clear of Kazakhstan’ s defense, but his shot was blocked by a defender.

    The visiting team suffered a scare in the 44th minute when Ulan was stretchered off the field after being injured by China defender Ren Hang’ s tackle.

    China made several changes after the interval to enhance the attack but still could not find the net.

    Kazakhstan’s winning goal came in the 67th minute when Azat, who came off the bench in the second half, headed the ball over goalkeeper Wang Dalei into the net.

    Kazakhstan played with 10 men in the final minutes as Akhmetov Yeldos was sent off with his second yellow card in the 82nd minute.(Xinhua)