In-form striker Yang Xu hit a hat-trick as China thumped hosts Bhutan in their Group C curtain-raiser.

Yang Xu scored a triple as China opened their 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint-qualifying campaign with a 6-0 thrashing of hosts Bhutan at Changlimithang Stadium on Tuesday. The visiting Asian giants led 1-0 at the break before coming back on fire and adding five to the tally to win all three points from the match.

Yang opened the floodgates of scoring two minutes into first-half stoppage time before adding two more goals under his name on 61 and 76 minutes.

Wu Lei also got on the score-sheet after 55 minutes while substitute Yu Dabao, who came off the bench on 61 minutes, registered a double on 67 and 83 minutes to give a bang to their campaign opener.

The participating teams will compete according to a double round robin format, with the Round 2 qualification matches being held between June 11, 2015 and March 29, 2016.

The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + 1 slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup.

China will next take on Hong Kong, who maintained their perfect record, seeing off Maldives 2-0 courtesy of a two quick-fire goals after the break.

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