The Chinese Super League swung back into action over the weekend, and with a late game last night in Beijing. As ever, Wild East Football keeps you up to date with all the goings on from across the division, with our correspondents covering games all around the country once more in 2014.
Week 3 featured a full round of fixtures. Let’s see what transpired this week:
Shanghai Shenxin 1-3 Guangzhou R&F
Moroccan striker Abderazzak Hamdallah’s first goals for Guangzhou R&F earned the Cantonese club victory in a very open game. Hosts Shenxin had taken the lead but fell behind when Hamdallah grabbed his second immediately after a Shenxin freekick had struck the bar. Despite the hosts threatening to equalise on numerous occasions any hopes of a comeback were extinguished in injury time when Hamdallah completed his hat-trick.
Sven Goran Eriksson sprung several pre-match surprises by leaving Jiang Ning and Davi out of the squad and dropping Wang Xiaolong to the bench. In came young winger Chang Feiya and debutant Ken Larsen. Shenxin started with only one foreigner, opting to leave Paraiba and Dalovic on the bench.
Henan Jianye 2-2 Dalian Aerbin
Henan and Dalian palyed out a 22 draw in Zhengzhou in a game the home side really should have won. They dominated the entire first half, although they were largely relegated to long range shots. Their dominance only payed off on the stroke of half time when Jamaican Ryan Johnson tucked a header from a set piece into the far post. They must have thought it was all over just after the break when Huang Xiyang scored a screamer passed helpless Zhang Chong in goals for the away side.
Yes on the hour mark the comeback began as Croatian Leon Benko finished nicely after a nit of a scrap in the area. Five minutes later and the comeback was complete as route one football paid off for the north easterners as Bruno Meneghel finished nicely from a long ball. Only a great save from Henan stopper Zhou Yajun in the dying minutes saved the home team’s blushes.
Jiangsu Sainty 2-1 Harbin Yiteng
Harbin travelled to Jiangsu to face Sainty, and it was the away side opened the scoring in the fifth minute through a glancing header from Australian Adam Hughes. A defensive mistake saw Sainty’s number 10 Dejan Damjanovic equalise ten minutes before half time.
Harbin peppered Sainty goalie Deng Xiaofei with long range efforts, but he stood up to the challenge. Midfielder Deng Zhouxiang scored sainty’s second, and the eventual match winner, on the hour mark, smashing in a lose ball to give his team their first win of the season.
The second Yangtze Delta derby of the season saw Shanghai East Asia maintain their excellent start to the campaign; with a hard-fought 2-1 away victory at Hangzhou Greentown, in a game which will be remembered for an exquisite first-half volley by Wu Lei.
East Asia made one enforced change from last weekend, following Lv Wenjun’s 5 match ban, while Greentown began the game with the same team that saw off Shanghai Shenhua last time out. In a match featuring several promising chances in front of goal for both sides, it was the visitors who found the cutting edge needed to take the points.
Liaoning Whowin 1-2 Guizhou Renhe
Guizhou Renhe overcame their midweek Asian Champions League mediocrity with a goal just ten minutes from time to seal a valuable away victory to Liaoning.
After coming off draws against Shanghai SIPG and Guangzhou R&F in their opening two games, Liaoning Whowin were looking to pick up all three points at home. Guizhou Renhe’s last league outing was a home win against Tianjin, and most recently an away draw against Group H leaders Ulsan in the AFC Champions league.
Tianjin Teda 1-1 Shandong Luneng
Visitors Shandong opened the scoring through new signing, Aloisio, who grabbed his second in as many games. His deflected shot put Luneng in the ascendency early on.
Shandong fell into the trap of not seeing a game, that they dominated from start to finish, through to the final whistle. In the 91st minute, Columbian Carmelo Valencia, took a touch on the each of the area, turned, composed himself, and fired in the equalising volley to send Shandong home having robbed them of two points.
Guangzhou Evergrande 1-3 Changchun Yatai
Changchun Yatai pulled off one of the most shocking results in recent memory in the CSL to leave Evergrande trailing Beijing at the top of the table after three rounds.
Beijing Guoan 2-0 Shanghai Shenhua
Rivals Beijing and Shanghai faced off in front of a raucous crowd in the weekend’s last fixture when they clashed on Monday night in the capital. It turned out to be a rather routine victory for Guoan, who extend their lead at the top of the table after 3 wins from 3 games.
The hosts went 1-0 up after Zhang Xizhe slotted home a softly-won penalty. Their was contact but Zhang Chengdong went down rather easily, looking as though he was anticipating the touch on his right ankle. Big man upfront, Peter Utaka, was unlucky to have been judged offside as he finished tidily, but 1-0 it remained. Although minutes later Argentinian Pablo Batalla put the game to bed when he tapped in at the end of a flowing move, with Utaka instrumental again.
