Thought 1: Dude's got some hops!
Thought 2: "Everyone in a green shirt is a hero tonight" (courtesy of Joel Griffiths)
This was arguably Guoan's most well played match of the year, but most definitely the most entertaining of the year. Guoan lined up in a 4-4-2, rare for this season, with Griffiths and Martinez up top, Yang Hao and Huang Bowen on the wing, Tao Wei in attacking position with Matic in the holding position and Zhang Xinxin and Zhou Ting helping Xu Yunlong and Zhang Yonghai at the back.
Beijing started out controlling the ball, but very quickly were met with a Shandong counter attack. Unfortunately, just 2 minutes into the match, a beautiful cross was played into the box, just between Xu and Zhou who only watched as an outstretched Han Peng knocked it into the back of the net. After that, Guoan went back on the attack, in the 21st minute a great chance off a set play corner kick, though Griffiths knocked it high. Shandong went back on the counterattack and an almost identical situation to the first goal ensued, this time it was Li Jinyu instead of Han, but he couldn't put it away.
Shandong's defense was full of holes and Guoan did a great job finding them, unfortunately they just couldn't finish in the first half. It was a fairly physical first half, with 5 yellow cards and a strange red card, given to Zhou Ting just before the half came to an end. Shandong was given a corner kick in extra time in the 1st half, there was a player injured and all the sudden the camera showed the referee chasing after Zhou Ting, with Xu Yunlong chasing after the referee. It seemed that Zhou said something to referee Wang Xueqing that pissed him off.
So Beijing went into the locker room down 1 goal and 1 man on the road. How they decided to respond to that situation would say a lot about where this team is going this year. They responded fairly quickly. Early in the 2nd half, Martinez went on a slinky run, but kept the ball to himself and hit his shot wide. Shortly after, Tao Wei was taken off for Du Wenhui, a good move because Tao didn't have one of his better matches. Moments after coming on, Du made a difference, going on a run down the left wing and then crossing the ball in the middle only to have it go off a Shandong defender. It wasn't a pretty goal, but it was much deserved the way they were controlling the match.
Du attempted to push Guoan ahead with a long shot that challenged Li Leilei and was very impressive. Just as it appeared things were headed in the right direction, Shandong had a corner, which Antar headed on to Han Peng who was alone and wide open right in front of the keeper, Han finished it off easily for his second of the night.
With less than 20 minutes to go, it looked like this was the end, having fought to get the match to even, Guoan was now back in the hole. That wasn't the case at all as these guys had no quit in them. In the 77th minute, Li Leilei came way out to get the ball, but Martinez got there first, went around him, but failed to get the shot off in time. A little later Griffiths made a nice run, but was (rightly) flagged for offsides, a bit frustrated he elbowed the Shandong defender, but fortunately the referee missed it. Lee Jangsoo made another substitute, taking off Yang Hao and bringing on Yan Xiangchuang who, only a minute later, made the difference, stealing the ball from a Shandong defender and passing it to Griffiths, who put it away. 2-2 and the scene you see above of Lee running down the sidelines to celebrate with the players.
The game was back to even, but Guoan wanted all 3 points. Zhang Xinxin led a counter attack, giving the ball to Yan who made a great run, but shot it just wide, then Guoan had a 3 on 1 but nobody pulled off a shot. The last chance of the game came when Yan made a play in the box, though Li Leilei came up with a great save.
A draw at Shandong, all things considered, was a fairly decent result. One thing that has to be said, Roda Antar is damn good. He was all over the pitch, making an offensive play, then going all the way down the field and making a defensive play in his own box. The guy is crazy good.
Anyways, I've said it before, I'll say it again, this Guoan team goes hard. They haven't always played well this year, but they have yet to quit, always trying for 3 points. It's hard trying to award a Man of the Match for this one, so I'm giving it to Substitutes, as the two subs, Yang and Du changed this match.
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