View from the Northeast: Liaoning Whowin 2 – 0 Qingdao Jonoon

Led by striker Yang Xu, Liaoning Whowin got back to winning ways with a 2-0 home defeat of Qingdao Jonoon. The victory means Liaoning are at the top of the table, if only temporarily, and remain one of only two undefeated teams in the Chinese Super League.

Pushed on by another enthusiastic home crowd, it was all Liaoning from the start. Shortly after the opening kick, Liaoning pressed forward with a beautiful cross that found Yu Hanchao in the box, unfortunately Yu’s shot was just wide. The attacking didn’t end there and it didn’t take long for the “Dongbei Tigers” to get on the board. In the 10th minute, it was again Yu who started the play, he laid the ball off to a teammate for another good cross, this one found Yang Xu, who had shaken off his defender, right in front of the keeper, he easily headed it in to open up the scoring.

It was Yang again in the 26th minute, this time it was a good run and pass from teammate Miloš Trifunović that created just enough space for Yang just outside the box. His curving shot was hit hard and found the corner of the net to double his own tally and put the home side up by two.

The visitors looked out of sorts for much of the game, unable to create any real opportunities and never challenged the keeper. Liaoning continued to push forward, but didn’t have the same urgency that existed in the opening moments of the match. The best chance of the second half was Liaoning’s, Trifunović was alone on the keeper who came out to challenge him, the Liaoning striker chipped the keeper, but his shot hit the crossbar.

This was far from the most exciting game I’ve seen this season, after jumping ahead, Liaoning kind of sat back as they realized there was no chance Qingdao was going to get on the board. Yu was subbed out in the 32nd minute, an unusual injury that looked like he may have twisted his ankle, but shouldn’t be serious enough to keep him out of their next match.

The star of the day was Yang, in his Balotelli-inspired skeleton gloves, soring his second and third goals of the season. The youngster has show why he’s arguably China’s best striker.