Beijing Guoan continued their recent slide last night, giving up four goals to Guizhou Renhe and getting knocked out of the CFA Cup. The Beijingers fought hard, but in the end they ran out of time, losing 4-3.
With Guoan opening the match attacking the north end, a rare occurrence, it looked like it was going to be a good night from the start, Guoan was playing well and Xu Liang opened the scoring with a beautiful free kick. Xu, who had an awful game against Tianjin, looked like the Xu of old last night, a sight fans have rarely seen this year. Guoan’s early lead didn’t last long, a 21st minute corner kick saw a very tentative Yang Zhi, only playing in his third match of the year, come out slowly and missing the ball, allowing Zhang Chenglin to equalize for the visitors.
It didn’t take long for Guizhou to add to that lead, moments later they came down the pitch on the counter attack and a good pass found Yu Hai on the left, who beat Yang Zhi. In less than five minutes, Guizhou went from being down 1-0 to jumping ahead 2-1. Partly to blame was a defensive line that was totally out of position, but Yang deserves a major part of the blame as well, its been obvious he’s not ready.
Just before the end of the half, Guizhou added on through another corner kick, this one headed on to Qu Bo at the back post, whose diving header put the visitors up by two. It was the second goal from a corner kick on the night, unfortunately Guoan hasn’t scored off a corner kick in who knows how long.
Manager Jaime Pacheco made some desperate moves at the half, taking off the oft diving Freddie Kanoute, who seems to have familiarized himself all too well with the Chinese style of play, for Reinaldo and doing his usual defensive player for attacker by taking off the out of shape Zhang Yonghai and bringing on Joffre Guerron. It looked like Guoan was turning things around five minutes later, once again it was a Xu Liang free kick that sneaked past the keeper and brought the Men in Green within one.
There was plenty of time left in the match and Guoan continued to push forward, but looked out of sorts and never really created any dangerous opportunities, while still looking susceptible to Guizhou’s counter-attack. That counter-attack finally got the best of Guoan in the 82nd minute when Sun Jihai set up Dino Đulbić, putting Guizhou up 4-2. The goal led to a renewed urgency in Guoan, who scored through a late goal from Guerron, but it was too little too late.
It’s been a cruel, cruel summer for Guoan, much like last season, the hotter months haven’t treated the team so well, earning only four points in seven league matches and getting knocked out of the cup. Last night’s loss was their fourth in a row and giving up four goals adds insult to injury for a club long known for a strong defense, having last given up four goals in a single match way back in 2006。
by bcheng
Interesting to see two former big names Qu Bo and Sun Jihai playing for Guizhou. I guess they’re a major reason why Guizhou’s been doing well. I do miss the days when Sun was a starter in the Premier League.
I wouldn’t give Sun too much credit, his disciplinary record has been pretty bad and even in 20 minutes of play against Guoan, he picked up a yellow card (he’s got 4 yellows and a red so far this year, though Guizhou generally has a problem with cards). Much of the reason Guizhou is so good is their impressive height, 2 of their foreigners are over 1.90 and another is 1.89, creating an aerial threat few teams can defend against.
Is Gao Hongbo any good, you reckon? I think he might be an important reason as well.
Thanks for the reply. No need to be sentimental about Sun anymore, I guess. I guess I shouldn’t be so nostalgic about these old stars but I’d give anything to see a Chinese player featuring regularly in a major European league.