Liaoning Whowin 1-1 Shanghai Shenhua
CSL Round 18
Edu 90 (pen); Al-khatib 70
A contentious last-minute penalty allowed Liaoning to avoid a home defeat to a Shanghai Shenhua following a hard-fought match which saw one red card and several tough tackles.
Brazilian striker Edu scored his 12th goal of the season from the spot after Shenhua keeper Wang Dalei was judged to have pulled the Liaoning forward in the box. Edu’s equalizer cancelled out a scrappy goal some 20 minutes earlier from Syrian striker Firas Ak-khatib.
Thanks to a break for international friendlies, neither side had played for around two and a half weeks, but rustiness seemed conspicuous by its absence at least for Shenhua who looked the liver side in the opening stages.
The game was barely a minute old when a fantastic Gio Moreno forward ball found Firas Al-khatib on the left side, but the Syrian was quickly closed down an unable to get a powerful enough shot on goal to cause any problems for the home side.
In the 15h minute, Liaoning’s James Chamaga held off a Rolando Schiavi challenge to square a dangerous ball for Edu, but a great saving tackle from Li Jianbin in the Shenhua box kept the home side at bay. Soon afterwards Liaoning captain Zhao Junzhe took a great long-range dipping shot, but it fell straight into the arms of Wang Dalei.
Shenhua’s form player Song Boxuan blotted his copybook just moments later, when, on a charging diagonal run into the middle from the left, he overlooked team-mate Wang Changqing in a promising position to take a shot from distance which flew wide, when the pass looked like a far better option.
The rest of the first half was balanced, with Chamaga and Edu causing the Shenhua defence a lot of problems, but the away side breaking away dangerously at points.
The second half was a more turgid affair, as both teams struggled a bit on the bumpy pitch. But Shenhua broke the deadlock in the 70th minute when a low Baijia Jun drive was parried by Liaoning keeper, but after some poor defending, Al-khatib was able to stab the ball home past Liu Yang.
Soon afterwards, Shenhua’s grip on all three points was tightened when Liaoning’s Zhang Jingyang was sent off for an utterly shocking two-footed tackle on Dai Lin. Not even in with a chance of ever getting the ball, the substitutes challenge looked like a deliberate attempt to injure his opponent. He was rightly sent packing amid angry scenes on the away bench.
Shenhua shored up their defence and played possession football in an attempt to run down the clock. But it backfired when a long ball into their box was punched out by Wang Dalei. The clearance fell to Edu, who took a little time to bring the ball under control. Wang rushed out to block, but Edu turned him. As the Brazilian was preparing to shoot, Wang dived at his feet to snatch the ball. However the referee awarded a penalty, judging Wang to have unfairly impeded Edu. The replay is not conclusive but the award appears to be soft. The Shenhua players and bench were absolutely incensed, not for the first time this season dubious penalty calls had fallen on the Shanghai team. However it was of course all to no avail, Wang was booked, then Edu smashed the ball home for a late equalizer.
The result was a frustrating one for Shenhua especially after having a one man advantage, but the stats painted a roughly equal picture and a point away from home would have been a result the visitors would have settled for before the match. Liaoning for their part looked very reliant indeed on their foreign stars, who were not particularly on form last night, but they had to be pleased at snatching a late point in the circumstances.
After the game, Shenhua coach Shen Xiangfu apologised to the fans and management for his outburst at the penalty decision, although surely few found his reaction unacceptable. He will spend the next Shenhua game sitting in the stand, were he will be joined by Wang Dalei who is suspended for picking up four yellow cards.
Category: Chinese Super League, In Brief, Liaoning Whowin, Shanghai Shenhua, Top Stories
Tags: Edu, Firas Al-Khatib
Even with my blue-tinted glasses on, it’s hard to argue against the pen — looks very much like Wang had a handful of Edu’s shirt, even if briefly.
Very frustrating, though — this was a surprisingly solid & fluent Shenhua performance for most parts, only to completely lose their nerve and end up camping desperately on their own eighteen-yard line for the last five minutes against a team they’d been fairly comfortably on top of for most of the game.
And yeah, Shen’s petulance was pretty disgraceful for a grown man, let alone a supposedly seasoned old hand.
In a rare case of disagreement with the oracle-like North Terrace Preview, I can’t see any shirt-grabbing, is that even possible wearing goalie gloves? It looks very vague from the replay. There was contact – but how much? Can’t see clearly.
As for Shen, at least he cares.
Part of the beauty of football (and one of the reasons video technology will never work for anything other than did-it-cross-the-line decisions) is that it’s a game of perceptions and opinions — even our Shenhua correspondents can’t agree on this one!
And caring is all well and good, but part of the coach’s role is to set the emotional tone for his side — very rarely do you see the great managers lose the plot in public. “Hairdryer treatment” behind closed dressing room doors is another thing, of course…
I think in the circumstances I would have done exactly the same as Shen. There is a time and a place for emotional outbursts and conceding a dodgy penalty in injury time after your side did enough to win an important match is one of them. Although I do agree the boss in general has to set the tone for the squad in terms of self-control. That said you are right to some extent, throwing a wobbler is not something which should be done regularly. I just think in this case it was fair enough.
I don’t agree about great managers rarely losing it – Fergie’s been captured on camera going berserk at refereeing decisions countless times.
Utterly gutted about the draw, as Cameron Wilson said is it even possible to shirt-grab someone down wearing goalie gloves? There certainly was contact but it’s shoulder to shoulder and as the footage shows Wang Dalei fully grabs the ball so how is that a penalty. The ref fell to pressure from the fans after giving a red and turning down earlier pen.
As for Shen, I would have lost my Sh*t if I got such a dodgy call from a ref that cost us the game. I don’t agree that it was a “hairdryer moment” as his frustration was directed at the ref and not his players. If anything it might be a continuation of the bunker mentality of us against the world that Shenhua have been displaying this season.