This weeks competition. Find the R&F match report.
Centurion Gao Lin does a Roman salute and takes his role on the far right a bit too literally and clueless R&F start to regret getting a Brazilian as they get caught in possession in Jiangsu. It’s been another crazy week in Guangzhou football, and the Guangzhou newspaper review is back.
This week, it was Jiangsu Sainty’s turn to get 90 mins of shooting practice against GZ’s team in blue. Although R&F had a whopping 64% possession, Jiangsu came away comfortable 2-0 winners.
Unfortunately, it seems that even the R&F players have lost the art of what some people have come to term ‘playing football’. “What can we do?” Xinkuai quotes a melancholy Yakubu, who apparently returned home during the week for ‘personal reasons’, missed all of this week’s training and was benched for the first part of the game. This excuse though is being gently nudged in the stomach by a few GZ papers who remind readers of Yakubu’s Farias handshake snub when he was substituted against Guangzhou Evergrande. 
Could Farias be getting his revenge? Wu Pingfeng, who did attend this week’s training, must be scratching his head and wondering just what he has to do to get a game.
So, what will the future bring? Another Brazilian according to GZ’s press. Romario, no not that Romario, who is currently playing for Vasco de Gama in Brazil. Rumours are that he may be involved in a deal which will see Davi heading in the opposite direction. Back to the present and it seems many GZ papers are preparing to watch R&F’s next home game through their fingers. From a position of predicted possible Asian Champions League contenders, the papers now report that R&F’s target is simply ‘get points’. In the last two games and the next two games, R&F play the top four teams from last year. It seems, barring some kind of Yakubu sized miracle, Farias’ troubles are set to remain for the time being.
On the red side of town, Evergrande notched up another 3 points against a spirited Tianjin side. Conca scored a wonder goal and Elkeson scored yet another goal to ensure that Evergrande’s season carried on to plan.
The third and final goal scorer in the Tianjin game was Gao Lin, who was playing his 100th game for Evergrande. After scoring the goal, Gao ran towards the Evergrande faithful, stood to attention and lifting his arm which looked suspiciously like a Nazi salute. Although the intention is debatable and the camera angle might not have shown the whole picture, the news was even reported in the venerable China Daily. The GZ newspapers have generally dismissed the ‘Gao is a raving Nazi’ claims, and Gao and the club have refused to comment on the incident. “The 100th appearance is a witness to my efforts over the past few years. Thanks Guangzhou!” Gao Lin said as he clicked his heels and marched off to the changing rooms.
The Nandu takes a slightly different slant on the Elkeson phenomenon by reporting that now it’s not just his scoring record which impresses, but during the Tianjin game he seemed just as determined to set up goals. Barrios again is given sympathetic but unreserved criticism again in the GZ papers. ‘There must be a shadow under the sun’ laments the Nandu. The paper gives poor old Barrios credit for trying, but during his second half cameo he seemed too slow and wasted a few good chances. Possibly the adjectives ‘old’, and especially ‘poor’ are not really appropriate for Barrios, but the Nandu is now salivating over the prospect of an all running, all kicking, all scoring Elkeson in the next round of the Asian Champions League.
