Guangzhou Evergrande 4-0 Guizhou Renhe
China Super League Round 4
Zheng Zhi 10′, Elkeson 39′, Huang Bowen 73′ 90′
Guangzhou Evergrande took full advantage of their game in hand to move three points clear at the top of the Chinese Super League on Wednesday night, thanks to goals from Zheng Zhi, Elkeson and Huang Bowen (twice).
The game had almost started in terrible fashion for the hosts, as Rao Weihui’s cross from the left flank almost snuck in under the crossbar but for a fine save from goalkeeper Zeng Cheng. It was to prove to be a one-off, though, as just minutes later captain Zheng Zhi opened the scoring with a fine shot from 25 yards.
Evergrande’s dominance would continue, with Zhang Linpeng going close to adding a second with a header midway through the half. The goal would eventually come through a familiar source, as Elkeson rose above goalkeeper Zhang Lie to add his 15th goal of the season from a Dario Conca corner.
The half would end in controversy, though, as Evergrande defender Zhang Linpeng escaped a red card for what looked like a clear elbow to the face of opposition forward Rafa Jorda. There could also have been an argument for him being the last man in defence, but the referee proceeded to show a yellow card.
After the break, with the hosts already 2-0 up, the game continued in very much the same fashion. Muriqui went close to adding a third early in the half, but it would take until the 73rd minute for the goal to come as Huang Bowen fired home the rebound from Elkeson’s well struck free-kick.
Gao Lin would waste a good chance on the counter-attack minutes later, firing weakly at the goalkeeper with Elkeson waiting in front of an open goal. Huang, though, would ensure a fourth would come as he curled home a free-kick in the final minute to put the icing on the cake for the hosts on a sodden night in Guangzhou.
Guangzhou Evergrande: Zeng Cheng; Zhang Linpeng, Zhao Peng, Kim Young-Gwon, Sun Xiang; Zheng Zhi, Huang Bowen; Rong Hao (Gao Lin 62′), Conca (Zhao Xuri 62′), Muriqui (Feng Junyan 73′); Elkeson.
Guizhou Renhe: Zhang Lie; Rao Weihui, Salley, Sun Jihai, Chen; Yang Hao, Nano (Muslimovic 46′); Chen Jie, Yu Hai, Qu Bo (Zhang Chenglin 55′); Rafa Jorda.
Having looked tired in the previous game, GZ came out and put in an awesome performance. It’s a lot of fun these days watching a team full of confidence and i’d go as far as to say this is the best football team i’ve followed …live.
Guizhou got away with a lot during the game, constant niggly fouls and shots after offside whistles, yet the referee did little to control this, prompting rare outbursts of abuse from the GZ fans towards the ref.
Great result, though I was surprised Guizhou didn’t put up more of a fight. They looked decent enough in the opening stages (and Zheng’s goal, great as it was, pretty much came out of nowhere) but were toothless up front throughout – I only remember them having one good shot.
I thought all the barracking of the referee only started when Zhang Linpeng got booked for that elbow at the end of the first half. I assumed Jorda was faking it too and was “heishao”-ing along with everyone else – as if Zhang would never do something as violently stupid as elbow someone he was beating in a race to the ball. Oh, naive me.
It’s a pity too as he put in a fantastic performance otherwise, constantly popping up all over the place to intercept Guizhou attacks; I think when we’re playing three at the back (as we did for much of this game) he’s a lot more effective on the right side of defense than as a wing-back. He was very lucky not to walk for that one though.
Delighted for Huang getting some goals at last, given he’s leading in assists, and the free kick was lovely (though keeper probably should have done better). An all round smooth performance – we’ll see tonight if Shandong are going to be able to provide real competition to Evergrande this season or if it’s just going to be a procession to the title.
I actually hope the Jinan team can and think they are very capable of getting something from this game, given their evident superiority to the rest of the teams in the league and the two draws they got at Tianhe in pre-season. I was at one of those and Shandong were very much Evergrande’s equal then, but the pressure on them tonight will be huge – they simply cannot afford to lose if they want any chance at the title. Let’s see how they handle it.