Aussie FIFA Series kicks off with China defeating Curaçao 2-0 in Sydney

[p]Wei Shihao and Zhang Yuning scored either side of the break at Sydney's Stadium Australia in a wake-up call for the tiny country ahead of its debut appearance at the global showpiece in North America in June-July.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/curacao/bLLGpOkQ/"]Curacao[/a], with a population of just 156,000, is the smallest nation ever to make a World Cup.[/p][p]Despite this they came through CONCACAF qualifying unbeaten under Dutchman Advocaat with three wins and three draws and the experienced 78-year-old was expected to be at the helm when they create football history.[/p][p]But he unexpectedly left last month to care for his ill daughter and was replaced by Rutten.[/p][p]It proved to be a losing start for the former [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/twente/dhOKTHGA/"]FC Twente[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/psv/M9UEHJWi/"]PSV Eindhoven[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/feyenoord/8zjySeoN/"]Feyenoord[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/schalke/0Ija0Ej9/"]Schalke[/a] coach, whose side are in a challenging Group E at the World Cup alongside [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/germany/ptQide1O/"]Germany[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/ivory-coast/G2FRjBgn/"]Ivory Coast[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/ecuador/8tbm8Tri/"]Ecuador[/a].[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/china/f5AvIXD3/"]China[/a], who failed to qualify for the World Cup, dominated the early exchanges in the friendly match that is part of the FIFA Series 2026.[/p][embed guid="68d44c50-96df-4e88-9d06-b248f1d484db" url="https://x.com/ParamountPlusAU/status/2037422657373696234" social-type="twitter" /][p]But it was Curacao who had the first sniff of goal with former [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/birmingham/SWk4muv7/"]Birmingham City[/a] midfielder Juninho Bacuna's long-range strike narrowly missing the upright.[/p][p]China, ranked 93 to Curacao's 81, had to wait until the 40th minute for their first clear chance when Wang Shangyuan blazed over the bar.[/p][p]But when another came in first-half stoppage time they made it count.[/p][p]Goalkeeper Yan Junling sent a long ball forward and it was headed into the path of Wei to finish beautifully.[/p][p]China doubled their lead in the 59th minute when skipper Zhang latched onto a poor clearance in the box and fired into the right-hand corner, with an increasingly frustrated Curacao having no response.[/p][h2][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/australia-xSrf6qMM/cameroon-zk1uVG2D/?mid=U7WG1svn"]Follow Australia's match against Cameroon (kickoff at 8:10pm AEDT) here.[/a] [/h2][embed guid="ebcdb0fc-8694-493c-ad3f-1bcd3f9c886f" url="https://x.com/ParamountPlusAU/status/2037430591625302385" social-type="twitter" /]