China set to net World Cup start

One-eyed without doubt: A China fan in the queue outside the Shenyang stadium

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- World Cup football fever is set to spread rapidly throughout China with the country poised to qualify for the four-yearly finals for the first time.

"All of our life is for this day" suggested the less-than-understated headline in Soccer News, and 10,000 riot police were said to be on standby in the northeastern city of Shenyang to prevent exaggeration.

The World Cup task seems simple for a nation already blessed this year with the good fortune of seeing the 2008 Olympic Games awarded to its capital, Beijing.

Having won the away leg 2-0 at Oman's capital, Muscat, all the national football team has to do is draw with Oman on Sunday evening to make 2001 a year of double sporting triumph.

With South Korea and Japan earning automatic berths as hosts, China is just one point away from becoming the first Asian nation to advance through to the 2002 cup finals.

Oman lies bottom of a five-team group, with two draws and three defeats from their five games and no hope of qualifying.

On the other hand China has won four and drawn one of five games and need only one point from the last three matches to go through as the group leaders.

If by some miracle Oman resists the inevitable on Sunday evening, other chances will come against Qatar at home and Uzbekistan away over the next two weeks.

'A few beers'

"No problem," said Zhang Guoqiang, a Beijing taxi driver, quoted in the online version of the China Daily.

"Our team is playing very confidently at the moment and Oman are very weak. I will go home early on Sunday and buy a few beers.

"Millions of Chinese will be watching the game live on television."

The weather in Shenyang is exactly as the China Football Association had hoped -- a bleak three degrees Celsius, cold and drizzling. The conditions will be uncomfortable for the Omanis, who are used to playing in heat.

The association also picked Shenyang because its fans are among the most boisterous in the country, urging on players with drums, horns and singing. And victory will bring a long, uninhibited celebration everywhere.