The fiercely contested JingJin derby ended in favor of Tianjin Teda despite Frederic Kanoute opening his league account for stuttering Beijing Guoan. Kanoute’s goal was sandwiched by a divine Sjoerd Ars volley and a gloriously worked goal from substitute Du Zhenyu.
Tianjin have tasted little derby success in recent years. In the last ten league outings, Beijing Guoan have triumphed five times and the other five have been draws, the last Tianjin victory being a home triumph, five years ago in June 2007 by a solitary 1-0 score line.
A slow and cautious first half showed little goal mouth action for either side with Tianjin’s Olympic Stadium’s pitch looking slightly poor due to recent bad weather. A decent run by Guoan’s Zhang Xizhe on 16 minutes forced a good block from Tianjin keeper Yang Qipeng who threw himself toward the rasping strike.
A testament to the recent influx of experienced forwards into the CSL, both sides opted for a sole striker in their formations and the difficulty of the lone front man showed in the first half with activity in the final third restricted by offside’s and a lack of support.
The second half was a different story, starting with electric pace from both sides that looked eager to impress as the managers opted for several changes in an attempt to re-ignite the game. Tianjin’s Alexandre Guimarães, the former manager of Panama and twice at his home nation of Costa Rica made the all important change bringing on eventual match winner Du Zhenyu just before the hour mark.
A superb run from Tianjin winger Mao Biao beat three Beijing defenders before an awful touch from Guoan’s number six, Xu Liang, teed the ball up for a spectacular volley from Dutchman Sjoerd Ars on 52 minutes. The former Zwolle striker who scored 28 goals just 2 years ago in the Dutch league showed true class in belting the ball past a helpless Yang Zhi, recently returning from injury.
Xu, who was having a terrible game, redeemed himself though on 78 minutes with a beautiful cross that Mali striker Kanoute deftly redirected past Yang Qipeng.
However, just a minute later it was time for substitute Du Zhenyu to race toward the Beijing box and have a neat little one two with Vladmir Jovancic before slotting through the legs of Yang Zhi. Du was a great midseason pickup for Teda, but it can’te help but be noted that the goal came from a run on the left side of the pitch, recently vacated when Pacheco subbed off Zhang Xinxin for Mao Jianqing.
Tianjin now sit tenth and in a week’s time Teda face a Guangzhou R&F side without a loss in the last three league games and ex-Blackburn Rovers striker, Yakubu, on fire with two goals in his first three starts firmly making himself a fan favorite. Beijing Guoan meanwhile has two tough home games in the next week, facing Guizhou Renhe in the cup and Dalian Shide next weekend. This win certainly gives Tianjin hope while Beijing look cautiously over their shoulder as mid-table is looking dangerously close.
by Peter Davis
Category: Beijing Guoan, Chinese Super League, Tianjin Teda
Tags: Du Zhenyu, Freddie Kanoute, jing-jin derby, Mao Biao, Sjoerd Ars, Xu Liang, 中超, 北京国安
I was at the game. What an atmosphere for Tianjin! With crowds of 7,000 odd being the norm it was great to see 36,000 in the stadium chanting Guo’an sha bi! Cant wait to bring Drogba over for a second stuffing!
That was a good atmosphere? I’ve been to matches at 10 of the 16 CSL grounds and while it was a large crowd, they were more into throwing around turtles and swearing than paying attention to the match. Even the “supporters” section barely got into the match and didn’t really sing anything, reverting to cnm and sb.
Let me guess… your first language is not english?
I said “What an atmosphere for Tianjin! ” I have been to matches all over the world and have been a 9 year season ticket holder at Carrow Road (Norwich City) I know what a good atmosphere is. Having been to Tianjin Teda matches a few times I thought it was much more of an atmosphere than usual. Maybe you sat in a different area to me. Anyway “What an atmosphere for Tianjin! ” means that for Tianjin it was a good atmosphere, not for the rest of China or the world. Peace out scholar.
What’s Norwich City?
the greatest football team in the English Premier League ;-p (well not quite, but we like to think so.)
Norwich!
“Where are you? C’mon, let’s be having you!”
ROFL
Good to hear fans turned up, hopefully more than 7,000 come for the next home games.
Tianjin is in a bit of a quagmire, I didn’t like their style of playing under Arie Haan and I found them to be dirty, but maybe this was due to me being prejudiced over Arie Haan and his bad reputation more than his own doing. This season they look a bit lost in mid-table, but I give it to rebuilding. Up-front is the potential to be dynamic, similar to Dalian. They don’t play bad… Football in these days in China sometimes will have a bit of an event character but given the steep ticket prices and the fact that some might turn up for their first time, it is a good thing. Let’s see…Like many things in the CSL, intriguing…
Maybe Tianjin players concentrating too much on Drogba, will leave some space for Cao Yunding and certain other hopefuls of the young squad, included, of course, Moreno.
haha, Mr Canary, don’t take bcheng serious when it comes to anything regarding Beijing – Tianjin! I’m sure if Delia went on the pitch to whip up the lads at half time though, mr B might be more impressed! you should join us in the pub talk, get in touch!
You do know that the canaries went on to lose 2-3 after her inspiring plea?