CSL Matchday 8 Recap

We're finally starting to see some separation at the top of the table with Shandong alone on top, though things are still fairly close. With 2 weeks left before the first international break of the season, things will get a little more clear and predictions should become slightly easier. Enough of that, to the action:

Shenzhen 1 - 0 Chongqing Lifan : WRONG
I'm always kinda happy to watch Shenzhen win and this weekend they were able to come up with a home win. Both teams had decent chances in the 1st half, though neither were able to score. Then in the 2nd half, a long throw in (surprisingly lots of throw-in goals this weekend) and a sweet header off it put Shenzen up. Guinee had a number of good opportunities, but couldn't convert. Shenzhen had another chance before the end of the match, what probably should have been a penalty kick, but a non-call. This time around, it didn't matter, as they secured 3 points. Original prediction: Shenzhen 1-1 Chongqing.

Chengdu Blades 2 - 1 Guangzhou Baiyunshan : WRONG
Hmm...I wasn't so serious about the "spirit of Wenchuan" in my review, but they definitely played that aspect up before the match and it worked, Chengdu having seized on this and played one of the best games they've played all year. That spirit led to them jumping out right away and scoring in the first 10 minutes, they followed it up with a goal 5 minutes into the 2nd half, and all Guangzhou could muster was a late goal to make things look a little closer. Original prediction: Chengdu 0-2 Guangzhou.

Changsha Jinde 1 - 0 Hangzhou Greentown : WRONG
This was more of what you'd expect from Changsha, though the win was a little surprising. They jumped out to the lead 6 minutes into the match through their Korean pair, and from there, they focused on defense the rest of the game, with total shots for both sides combined still remaining in single digits, a surprise that this side is still moving up the table. Original prediction: Changsha 0-0 Hangzhou.

Jiangsu Sainty 2 - 1 Dalian Shide : RIGHT
Jiangsu's a plucky side that wants to not only stay up, but impress, and they did this week. A great free kick chance early that was foiled led to another free kick moments later and this time Jiangsu put it away to start a frenetic 10 minutes of football. 3 minutes after the Jiangsu goal, Zhao Xuri responded with a nice header off a free kick to equalize, though 7 minutes later, Jiangsu took back the lead, again off a free kick, this time with a header better than Zhao's. Jiangsu had multiple great chances the rest of the match, but hit posts or were just wide, Ahn alone had 2 good chances for Dalian in the 2nd half, but was unable to convert. Then there was the crazy ending, where 4 yellow cards and 2 reds were shown (one red for each team) in the last 10 minutes, in what ended as a very rough affair. Original prediction: Jiangsu 2-1 Dalian.


Shaanxi Zhongxin 0 - 1 Tianjin Teda : RIGHT
It was a wet day in Xian and it turned out to be a sad one too as the home side couldn't keep the magic they had 2 weeks ago against Guoan and instead were simply outplayed by a Tianjin side. Teda had a number of excellent chances, including a controversial call 10 minutes in when Hao Junmin was called offside. They dominated 1st half chances, though were unable to score. Shaanxi played a little better in the 2nd, with a few decent chances, but Tianjin was finally able to score 2 minutes from time when the keeper came up with the 1st save, but gave up a rebound which Tianjin put away. Original prediction: Shaanxi 0-1 Tianjin.

Changchun Yatai 2 - 6 Beijing Guoan : RIGHT
For the full write-up, go here. A beautiful day! Original prediction: Changchun 0-1 Beijing.


Henan Construction 1 - 3 Shandong Luneng : RIGHT
In another high scoring game, again in rainy weather, it was an interesting clash between 2 sides tied for top spot. Olisadebe had a number of chances for Henan, and although he was able to set up Henan's 1st goal, I bet he rues those misses. Shandong had a sudden burst of action a little after the hour mark, scoring the 1st goal off a beautiful long shot that Henan claimed didn't cross the line, followed up by a Han Peng flying header that has to be one of the goals of the season, knocked in just minutes later. Antar killed off any hope the home fans may have had in extra time, putting the game on ice. Original prediction: Henan 1-2 Shandong.

Shanghai Shenhua 1 - 1 Qingdao Zhongneng : WRONG
Any weekend Shanghai loses (or in this case doesn't win) is a happy one for me, and this time around it was especially sweet as Guoan was able to jump over them in the standings. There were plenty of chances for both sides, though Shanghai especially had a fair number of bad mistakes. Qingdao struck first in the 71st minute off a decent shot, but nothing too challenging and surprisingly they kept up the pressure, coming close a few more times. However, in the end it was a long throw in to a wide open Mao Jianqing, massively blown defense on Qingdao's part, who knocked in a header just before the game's conclusion. This Shanghai team has some serious problems, especially considering this was a home performance. Original Prediction: Shanghai 2-0 Qingdao.

So some surprises means I go 4-4 yet again, putting the season total at 29-27. More Friday football this week, I'm ready for a good one.

Matchday 4 Review : Chengdu Blades

Victory!

Yes, this is how I feel right now, Guoan has finally gotten back to their winning ways, though they've yet to lose yet, its been over 3 weeks since their last win. This one was extremely watchable and showed football how it should be played.

There were lots of changes for this game, so let's look at the lineup:

Goalie - Yang Zhi

Defense - Zhou Ting, Xu Yunlong, Zhang Yonghai, Lu Jiang

Midfield - Du Wenhui, Matic, Tao Wei, Yang Hao, Martinez

Forward - Joel Griffiths

That means a ton of changes in the midfield, basically an entire overhaul with the exception of holding mid Matic, changing out Wang Changqing, Ryan Griffiths, and Huang Bowen. I don't know what Lee Jangsoo said to the team in the change room, but this was a totally different Guoan squad, taking the match directly to Chengdu right from the start. Griffiths had an early chance that was created purely by hustle, something that had been lacking in the team, but things got good a short while later when Du Wenhui scored a nice goal off a great run and cross from Martinez. That was the highlight of the half, both sides had a few good chances and Beijing's defense still didn't look solid (namely Zhang), but Yang Zhi was up for the few 1st half challenges he faced.

Going into the half up 1-nil was a nice feeling, but the way the team's played this year, I was still fairly nervous about the result, could we hold them off? The nerves quickly went away early in the 2nd half, a questionable offside call against Griffiths had me angered, but moments later, Guoan was given a free kick deep in the Chengdu end (almost by the corner flag). Tao Wei's great delivery was met by a Yang Hao header, knocking the ball deeper in the box for a sliding Griffiths who buried it, making it 2-nil and offering a nice insurance goal. Griffiths was almost able to make it 3 in the 87th minute, but couldn't get the shot off in time and was foiled by Chengdu's large keeper. The only other thing to note was Wang Ke's season debut, coming on for Martinez in the 90th minute.

Huang Bowen is one of my favorites among the current crop of Guoan players, I was there for his first goal as a 16 year old in 2004 and his rocket shots at that age showed a lot of promise, I thought he could be the future of Chinese football. He's still young, only 21 now, and going into his 6th CSL season, but he just hasn't matured to match all the previous expectations fans had for him. It's been obvious in the past few games that he's had problems figuring out how to work with Martinez and the other midfielders and hashing out what his role should be.

Switching Huang and Tao doesn't lose you very much. While Tao is more attacking, he's also very creative, and Matic has shown himself capable of being a solid defensive mid. At the same time, Martinez looked to be revitalized, and was more dangerous than ever before this year, going up and down the wing. Yang Hao was a breath of fresh air, as well, in his first game in the squad this year.

There was some talk about Lee's job security in the run-up to this match, this is simply outrageous. He's brought the team to within a point of a league title and, even if the team didn't get off to a great start, they're still undefeated in the league, currently sitting in 3rd, and also in a great position to advance in the Champions League.

The fans and media are putting too much pressure and too many expectations on this side, this is exhibit A in the case against them. Lee's one of the better CSL managers and one game, or even a few poor outings, isn't enough to condemn him, we need to show more loyalty. We need to have more faith in Lee, his decisions in this match paid off, and he's the man that can take us farthest.

That's that, I hope I don't need to be talking about that anymore this year. A great win, back to winning ways, still undefeated in the league, and have a big weekend clash against Shandong coming up, who is travelling to Jinan?

Matchday 4 Preview : Chengdu Blades

Hi all, hope you're having a great weekend so far, yesterday certainly was an interesting day in the CSL.  I'm moving today and so this is going to be a shorter post than usual, so let's get to it.

Guoan's on the road in Sichuan this weekend looking to get back its form after losing its first game of the season, a midweek Champions League defeat in Korea.  Guoan's struggled on the road this year and Chengdu came up with a big upset in their only home clash, against Shanghai Shenhua.

Don't expect to see many changes to Guoan's lineup, most likely Martinez will be in for Guo Hui and that's about it, though perhaps we'll see a few changes to the bench.  Lee Jangsoo is very unhappy (as well he should be) with the team's performance as of late, but because of fitness issues there just aren't that many changes to make and its too early to start seriously worrying.  

Let's hope for 3 points out of Guoan and no player having to apologize for stupid mistakes.  This is a team with high expectations placed on it by the media and internally high expectationsof themselves, but its time for them to relax a little and play with passion instead of pressure.  

Matchday 2 CSL Top XI

Soccer News has picked its top XI from Matchday 2 and this time around its a 442:

Goalie:

Li Leilei (Shandong Luneng)

Defense:

Cao Yang (Tianjin Teda)

Li Zhihai (Guangzhou Baiyunshan)

Tang Jing (Changchun Yatai)

Liu Yu (Chengdu Blades)

Midfield:

Zhang Yuan (Chengdu Blades)

Wang Xinxin (Tianjin Teda)

Antar (Shandong Luneng)

Zhao Mingjian (Dalian Shide)

Forwards:

Rodrigues (Chengdu Blades)

Guinee (Chongqing Lifan)