Qingdao Jonoon 0 – 1 Hangzhou Greentown
Attendance: 6,671
Wuhan Zall 3 – 3 Shanghai Shenhua
Attendance: 16,853
Shanghai Shenxin 2 – 3 Shandong Luneng
Attendance: 10,592
Beijing Guoan 2 – 0 Changchun Yatai
Attendance: 31,500
Guizhou Renhe 2 – 1 Dalian Aerbin
Attendance: 18,639
Shanghai East Asia 1 – 2 Liaoning Whowin
Attendance: 6,993
Guangzhou Evergrande 3 – 0 Tianjin Teda
Attendance: 38,112
Jiangsu Sainty 2 – 0 Guangzhou R&F
Attendance: 24,352
Round 8 of the CSL kicked-off Saturday afternoon, and Hangzhou Greentown became the first team in 2013 to steal all the points from a match against Qingdao Jonoon. The Zhejiangers managed to win 1:0 in the coastal Shandong city. Over in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, Zall still has to keep waiting for the first win in the CSL after the home side’s defense shipped three goals in 13 second half minutes, thereby wasting a seemingly comfortable 3:0 lead against traveling Shanghai Shenhua. Despite the Shanghainese side’s shambolic defending, Shenhua did what they had done all season so far, they fought back to win something from this fixture. It was a point in the end, 3:3 was the final score. This result means Shenhua remains unbeaten in 2013 so far. Shanghai is going to host the other unbeaten team in the CSL coming Friday evening when Guangzhou Evergrande will pay a visit to Hongkou Stadium in a game that will be played under the floodlights.
Shandong Luneng managed to keep scoring goals. Their challenge for an ACL spot was still intact after Saturday evening’s fixture at Shanghai Shenxin. The outfit from Jinan won 3:2 at Yuanshen Stadium in Pudong on that night in a highly entertaining encounter. Don’t make the mistake of discounting Shanghai Shenxin’s footballing abilities though.
After stuttering in the CSL of late and dropping (or rather wasting?) points with a line-up representing a Guoan B-team which subsequently lost 3:0 against Dalian Aerbin away at Jinzhou last weekend – presumably players were rested during this fixture for the upcoming ACL fixture – thereby leaving ample opportunity for Guangzhou Evergrande to capitalize and open a sizable gap at the top of the table already early on in the campaign, the Beijingers got back on track by overcoming Changchun Yatai 2:0 at Gongti on Sunday afternoon. This in turn heaps more trouble on the Northeasterners. Guizhou Renhe – another Chinese ACL side who competed in this year’s edition of the competition – recovered from their midweek exit of the group stages by beating pre-season CSL darlings Dalian Aerbin 2:1 at home in Guiyang.
Sunday evening saw Shanghai East Asia losing at home in the CSL for a first ever time. The opposition was a Liaoning Whowin side utilizing all their experience to head back to Shenyang as 2:1 winners. Newly promoted Shanghai Dongya are encountering a rough patch during as they did not managed to win a single point during their last two outings. Liaoning, on the other hand, is finding themselves well-placed in the upper third of the table. In the other Sunday evening fixture, Guangzhou Evergrande made sure no further surprises during round 8 occurred as the 2012 CSL champion dispatched Tianjin Teda comfortably with 3:0 at Tianhe Stadium.
On Monday night Jiangsu Sainty hosted Guangzhou R&F in Nanjing’s Olympic Stadium. After getting knocked out of the ACL only because of goal difference, the Nanjingers made sure of no further disappointment was headed their way as they beat Fuli 2:0. More news about an unsettled dressing room in the blue half of Guangzhou is expected during the coming days. A total of 153,712 spectators turned up for the eight CSL matches of round 8. This made for an average attendance of 19,214.
