Spirited Changchun lose to German Visitors

Changchun Yatai suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat against Bundesliga outfit Werder Bremen in a summer break friendly match last week which saw new loan signing Feng Renliang make a promising start with the north-east Chinese club.

The match was conducted under the banner “China-Germany Friendly Challenge”, and was the German side’s first match of their China pre-season tour. Many believed the Germans would cause countless problems for their Chinese opponents, but things didn’t quite have a such a rosy outcome for the European visitors.

Newly signed from Guangzhou Evergrande on loan, Feng Renliang provided Changchun with a new creative attacking mentality and a clean delivery into the box the team has been desperately needing. The sixteen-time China international used his space and technique to give Changchun a new attacking dynamic that could prove crucial for the team when the Chinese Super League resumes against Hangzhou on July 20th.

In the early stages of the game it looked as if Changchun would take the lead, with a shot from Fatos Beciraj being well saved from within the penalty box. Yatai continued to put on pressure but their defensive mistakes lead to a number of chances for Werder Bremen, who couldn’t quite get past Yatai goalkeeper Song Zhenyu.

It finished 0-0 at half time with Changchun feeling extremely confident about the way they were playing. At half time Changchun made a number of substitutions, including bringing off Feng Renliang to rest before their CFA Cup match against Qingdao Jonoon.

The second half played out much like the first, with both sides having chances saved or come very close. But ultimately it was the skill of the Germans that finally broke the deadlock, with a strong header from Argentine defender Santiago Garcia finding the back of the net to the surprise of the Yatai defence.

That’s how the game remained until the final whistle blew.

Yatai had a number of chances to equalise but ultimately nothing came to fruition and they went home feeling as if they could have gotten a better result, but no doubt feeling confident about the start of the second half of the CSL season. Changchun also had Zhao Peng, a Chinese international defender, sign for them on loan from Guangzhou Evergrande but he made no appearance in this match.

The experiences of Zhao and the creativity and speed of Feng Renliang should aid the team as the aim to push higher up the CSL table in the second half of the season.

Changchun Yatai: Song Zhenyu (Mi Tianhe, 45′), Wang Wanpeng (Pei Shuai, 45′), Yan Feng (Yan Shipeng, 45′), Anzur Ismailov (Sun Jie, 70′),  Eninho, Fatos Beciraj, Lu Jianjun, Cao Tianbao (Pan Chaoran, 76′), Walter Iglesias, Zhang Xiaofei, Feng Renliang (Liu Xiaodong, 45′)

Werder Bremen: Wolf, Garcia, Galvez, Lukimya, Fritz, Di Santo, Elia, Prodl, Kroos, Selassie, Pavlovic.