Round 6 opened on Friday night with Dalian Aerbin winning 1:0 against Jiangsu Sainty at Nanjing’s Olympic Sports Center. The home side still looking to replicated last year’s form whilst the visitors from Liaoning Province are slowly climbing the table. Over in the Chinese capital, Guoan again failed to produce a home win, this time drawing against fellow ACL contenders Guizhou Renhe.
A minute’s of silence was impeccably observed before kick-off at all CSL stadia in the wake of yet another major earthquake in Sichuan Province that occurred that morning. The speed and the manner of how quickly Shandong Luneng supporters were able to prepare a big banner and placards to show support was particularly surprising, considering the disaster happened only seven hours before kickoff. Luneng recovered from last week’s loss away at Shenhua to win 3:1 against a Liaoning Whowin side unbeaten in 2013, in front of a 30,000+ attendance at home.
During a Shanghai day-too-cold-for-April, East Asia managed barely enough to warm the hearts of the supporters when they beat a Tianjin Teda side that just came to the Shanghai Stadium looking to pounce, starting with a organized and deep defense. Teda looked the more dangerous during the first half, but a second half Wu Lei goal saw Dongya win 1-0. Wuhan Zall failed to gain their first home point yet again after losing 2:0 to Guangzhou R&F at Wuhan Sports Center. The result was a timely boost for the blue team from the southern metropolis of Guangzhou as they finally achieved their much-needed first win of the campaign. They will host Evergrande for the city’s derby next weekend at Yuexiushan – a ground located in the heart of the city which many find worthy of a visit. Guangzhou Evergrande signalled their intent for next weekend’s derby clash by disposing of Changchun Yatai 6:1.
Sunday afternoon saw Shanghai Shenhua remain unbeaten in 2013, taking points from a second Shandong Province team in one week. Last week Shenhua were responsible for Luneng’s first defeat of the season and losing top spot. This time Qingdao were the opponents, and ironically, the 1-1 draw saw Shenhua help Shandong regain top spot. Be sure to turn up at Hongkou Stadium next Sunday when Shenhua will host the other surprise team from Shanghai – in a hopefully tasty – city derby when they host East Asia.
In round six’s only Sunday evening kick-off, Shanghai Shenxin managed to win their first match of 2013 by overcoming local rivals Hangzhou Greentown 2:1 at Pudong’s Yuanshen Stadium. A total of 170,911 visitors came through the turnstiles at the eight CSL grounds of round six. This made for a very impressive average attendance of 21,364 per match.
Jiangsu Sainty 0 – 1 Dalian Aerbin
Attendance: 25,862
Beijing Guoan 1-1 Guizhou Renhe
Attendance: 33,634
Shanghai East Asia 1-0 Tianjin Teda
Attendance: 7,113
Shandong Luneng 3-1 Liaoning Whowin
Attendance: 31,931
Wuhan Zall 0-2 Guangzhou R&F
Attendance: 18,313
