China's national football team have thrashed their third group rival, Malaysia, 4-nil to top the group for 2006 World Cup qualifiers.

　　Dutch coach Arie Haan's Chinese team were clearly not overshadowed by the lackluster 1-all stalemate suffered at the hands of the Malaysian team in the Olympic qualifiers earlier this year.

　　34-year-old striker Hao Haidong found the back of the net in the final minutes before half-time. It's his third goal in three matches.

　　Chinese international Sun Jihai scored one goal, and playmaker Li Xiaopeng scored twice in the second half to seal the convincing victory in Tianjin.

　　China has been far from impressive so far this year with narrow 1-nil wins over both Kuwait and Hong Kong in their first two World Cup qualifying matches, thanks to goals in both matches by Hao Haidong.

　　With three wins in a row, China is now leading Group D with nine points and takes the upper-hand into a visit to Malaysia on September 8th.

　　And there's more good news for Chinese football fans: the men's team has climbed two more places from last month in FIFA's new world rankings.

　　Thanks to last week's 2-1 victory against Hungary in a friendly international, China now finds itself 65th in the world.

　　The 2002 World Cup winner Brazil continues to top the ranking, followed by France and Spain.