But even as the possibility of a humiliating early flight home loomed, head coach Jankovic said he had no regrets.
“I have been in China almost six years, prepared one generation for Chinese football [while in charge of age-group teams], coached in the East Asian Cup, World Cup qualifiers and now the Asian Cup, and all these things are precious for me,” Jankovic said.
“I am focused on giving, not receiving, on trying to do my best and having no regrets. After this game, I have no regrets, because we did everything we could.
“There are two types of coaches, those who have been fired, and those who will be fired. When you do this job, you accept both.
“The one who thinks about the moment when he will stop working is the one who is afraid of everything. The guy who is afraid of everything can never be a coach.”
Jankovic insisted he was “proud of the players, for their fighting and team spirit”.
There was no questioning the Chinese commitment and effort, but a team languishing at 79th in the Fifa rankings is frighteningly short of guile, speed and quality in attack.
Qatar, who made nine changes from the team that beat Tajikistan last Wednesday to secure progress as group winners, were there for the taking.
China created a handful of openings, and the home team’s reserve goalkeeper Saad Al-Sheeb made a terrific reflex stop from Wei Shihao’s six-yard attempt.
Qatar were never asked to withstand any concerted pressure, though, and there was an air of inevitability about what would happen next when Akram Afif and Hasan Al-Haydos were introduced from the bench.
The star pair combined for a spectacular volleyed winner by Al-Haydos, leaving Jankovic fielding questions over the direction of travel for football in his adopted country.
China look to next generation after humiliating Women’s World Cup exit
China look to next generation after humiliating Women’s World Cup exit
“We can never make this kind of final conclusion – if we had scored one goal, or our goal against Tajikistan was allowed [a late Zhu Chenjie header was ruled out], we would not be talking about going backwards or forwards,” he said.
“We have World Cup qualifiers to come [starting against Singapore in March]. China will keep moving, China can never go backwards.”
On Tuesday, China needed Syria and India to finish goalless, before a draw of any description between Hong Kong and Palestine, to scrape through.
Jankovic admirably fought his players’ corner, but they dug this hole for themselves, with repeated failings in front of goal. Two of 10 shots against Qatar were on target, mirroring the statistics against Tajikistan. Against Lebanon, seven of 15 attempts tested the goalkeeper.
“In football, you cannot expect big results if you do not score goals,” Jankovic said.
“Our players have quality, I stand firmly behind them. We created a lot of chances in the three games, many more than we conceded.
“We threw all the weapons into the battle to try to score against Qatar, and we are disappointed, because our destiny no longer depends on us.”
