SINGAPORE: Highly-rated midfielder Wu Lei grabbed a priceless winner Friday as China beat Indonesia 1-0 to breathe life into their 2015 Asian Cup qualifying campaign.

Wu, 21, tagged “China’s Maradona” after his emergence as a teenager, was on target just before half-time at Xian’s Shanxi Stadium to maintain China’s second spot in Group C.

China’s campaign was listing after last month’s disappointing away draw with bottom side Indonesia, making victory imperative ahead of Tuesday’s game against table-toppers Saudi Arabia.

The national team, under caretaker coach Fu Bo since the sacking of Jose Antonio Camacho, were also under pressure to live up to Guangzhou Evergrande’s AFC Champions League victory last week.

China are now guaranteed to stay among the group’s two automatic qualifying spots regardless of the result later between Saudi Arabia and Iraq, who are third.

China, hosts and runners-up in 2004, have a spotless record of reaching 11 successive Asian Cup tournaments ahead of the next edition in Australia in early 2015.

Elsewhere, Syria bounced back from last month’s shock loss to Singapore with a big 4-0 win in the return leg to climb off the foot of Group A.

Iran, three-time winners of Asian football’s biggest prize, beat Thailand 3-0 at Bangkok’s Rajamangala Stadium to strengthen their grip on Group B.

And in Group E, Uzbekistan beat Vietnam 3-0 in Hanoi as they look to solidify second spot behind leaders UAE.

Saudi Arabia need just a draw against 2007 winners Iraq later to join hosts Australia, Japan and North and South Korea among the countries which have already qualified.

UAE and Bahrain can also advance with home wins over Hong Kong and Malaysia respectively.

Meanwhile Guangzhou Evergrande captain Zheng Zhi was named on a three-man shortlist for AFC player of the year as the newly crowned Asian champions featured heavily among awards nominations on Friday.

Zheng, ex-Celtic and Charlton Athletic and skipper of China’s national team, will vie with fellow midfielders Javad Nekounam of Iran and South Korea’s Ha Dae-Sung for the coveted prize.

Zheng, who led Evergrande to China’s first Asian championship title in 23 years last week, was one of three players from the Marcello Lippi-coached team who are up for awards.

Brazilian striker Muriqui, who scored a record 13 goals for Evergrande in the AFC Champions League, and Argentine team-mate Dario Conca were both short-listed for foreign player of the year.

Prolific Montenegrin forward Dejan Damjanovic is in contention for the same prize after his starring role in FC Seoul’s run to the Champions League final.

Inter Milan’s Japanese defender Yuta Nagatomo, Bayer Leverkusen’s Son Heung-Min and Japanese playmaker Keisuke Honda of CSKA Moscow will compete for the Asian foreign player of the year award, for the best Asian footballer based outside the region.

The winners will be announced at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) awards night in Kuala Lumpur on November 26.