CSL Round 28: Attendance, highlights, and all the goals

Matters at Qingdao’s Tiantai Stadium were settled virtually by the half-hour mark, courtesy due to a solid Guo’an performance. Beijing’s direct and pacy attacking play and pressure on opponents forced Qingdao into committing costly mistakes. Goals came from the Ecuadoran Joffre Guerron (4th minute) and Wang Changqing (26th). Kanoute was left to warming the bench during the first hour of the match, while Beijing’s quickly moving feet and hard-work attitude shouldered the task at hand impressively. Under pressure Guo’an manager Pacheco may have found a new lease of life.

Shide’s dismal season continued and worries about relegation increased when they slipped at home. Shenxin, on the other hand, got themselves a well-deserved life-line to avoid the same fate. Dalian took the lead through Adriano in the 11th minute, but from then Shide started to stumble down wards. Only seven minutes later, Wang Yun got the equalizer for the traveling team. Brazilian Anselmo had a goal for the visitors disallowed for offside after 33 minutes, a tough call. The referee spotted a foul on Wang Jiayu in the Dalian penalty area. Shenxin’s Nr. 10 Anselmo (44th) converted the subsequent penalty to help his team to take a lead into half-time. Early in the second-half, courtesy by Antonio Flavio (52nd), Dalian conceded a third goal to the rampant visiting side. 4:1 for Shenxin it was, when Anselmo (85th) scored his second goal of the evening after combining cleverly with fellow Brazilian Antonio Flavio on a counter-attack, beating the high defensive line of the home side. Shide even missed the opportunity to put a bit of gloss on the shattering scoreline when they missed a penalty kick in the 93rd minute.

The highest ever attendance of a CSL match witnessed something of a historic moment at this saturday evening kick-off, 7.30 pm. Nanjing kick off the game, the ball gets passed back into centre-midfield, a long kick into the Guangzhou half follows where the ball gets deflected by an Evergrande player near the touchline. The ball bounces straight into the path of the on-running Jiangsu defender Ji Xiang who is hitting a hopefully swerving shot from just outside the penalty area goal wards. His effort found the back of the net at the near post. 1:0 for the home side, in front of a record attendance, after just a bit more than a tenth of a minute played during the match of 2nd against 1st. Jiangsu did not manage to profit from momentum to score a second in the 13th minute. After half an hour played, Evergrande began to take control of the match. The equalizer to settle the tie came through a great effort from Guangzhou’s Jia Ning who lobbed a fast ball into the top corner at the far post, pretty much from exactly the same spot where the ball for the 1:0 was struck.

Both teams showed a spirited effort to earn a point apiece. In another saturday evening kick-off, 7.30 pm, in Jinan, the home side did everything in their means to put relegation worries to a rest. Thanks only to countless heroics of Liaoning keeper Zhang Lu, Shandong was halted from scoring more than once in this match. Zhang Ye (27) put his Shenyang team in front with their first meaningful attacking effort, saying this was against the run of play would be an understatement. The more than deserved equalizer for Shandong came 7 minutes from time, courtesy of a Gao Di goal.

Henan’s equaliser in time added-on the same evening provided the traveling team with a very thin chance to avoid relegation. This feat, though, looks highly unlikely.

The draw between these two teams meant that there are still clouds over next season’s status for both teams. Guizhou still remains in the thick of an inconclusive battle for an ACL-spot, while Hangzhou’s status in the top Chinese domestic league in 2013 is not secured yet.

Shenhua’s line-up didn’t include Nicholas Anelka and Didier Drogba. For the first time in a long time, the team featured Moises in defense instead. Shanghai conceded two early goals and was not able to claw themselves back into the match. A disciplined performance by Changchun was enough to see them running out as winners against a Shenhua side that seemed to have been busy with playing “musical chairs” during pre-match preparation again. A controversial penalty for Yatai managed to put the visitors in the driving seat for the second half. Cruise mode was enough against Shanghai team that had nothing to play for.