China were defeated by Honduras 1-0 in an international soccer friendly in Guangzhou on Sunday.

The visitors scored the winner on 53 minutes with midfielder Carlos Oliva's strike inside the box following Elmer Marin's low cross from the right.

"We have done well in the attacks and have better control in the midfield. In the last phase there were some mess, but we are lucky to win the game," said Honduras boss Gilberto Yearwood.

"They posed big pressure on us. And I hope that may do some help to us for the preparation for the Asian Cup qualifiers against Palestine. We are not in our best form. We need to improve at set pieces and position sense," Chinese coach Zhu Guanghu commented.

Honduras had the early advantage in the first 15 minutes. Hitman Luis Ramirez forced goalkeeper Li Leilei a reaction save on a one-to-one situation inside the area two minutes into the game.

The hosts dominated the rest of the first period by pulling the formation up and launching several flank forays to threaten their rivals. Skipper Li Weifeng dashed down to the base line on the left and made a powerful cross, which nearly went directly into the net.

After trailing 1-0 in early second half, China made strenuous efforts to level, but their hopes became fainter when midfielder Li Yan received his marching orders in the 76th minute for stomping on a Honduran defender.

Honduras may further upset the hosts at the end of the game, but Mynor Figueroa's thunderbolt from 25 meters was stopped by a full stretched Li Leilei.

(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2006)