CSL Matchday 6 Recap

What a rough week! I go 2-6 and only 6 goals scored in 8 matches made for some pretty piss poor football. Nothing more needs to be said, let's go to the games:


Changsha Jinde 0 - 0 Guangzhou Baiyunshan : WRONG
What a way to start! This crappy snorefest shows that Changsha got their mojo back and are once again playing their anti-football as the masters of the nil-nil draw. Some decent chances for both teams, but not much to talk about. Original Prediction: Changsha 0 - 1 Guangzhou.

Jiangsu Sainty 0 - 0 Henan Construction : WRONG
Saturday was all about the nil-nil as upstarts Jiangsu faced off against top of the table Henan. The home side outshot the visitors, but it was Netto's header just wide that was the best scoring chance in the 1st half. Jiangsu dominated the 2nd half chances, but still came up short as both teams walk away with a point and Henan stays on top. Original Prediction: Jiangsu 2 - 3 Henan.


Shenzhen 0 - 1 Hangzhou Greentown : WRONG
Okay, so I have a soft spot for Shenzhen that has been exposed week in, week out. If I go with my heart instead of my brain again this year, I deserve to be punched. Shenzhen is a bad football team, they just escaped going down last year and it would be no surprise if they fall this year. In the rainy conditions in Shenzhen, they failed to convert on a 1st half penalty kick, and then were beaten by an Otto goal minutes into the 2nd half. Original Prediction: Shenzhen 1 - 1 Hangzhou.


Chongqing Lifan 1 - 0 Dalian Shide : WRONG
I thought Dalian's performance last week was a turning point in their season, it seemed like some of their squad were finally starting to come together, however a road defeat in Chongqing is a massive disappointment. Chongqing isn't a very good team, but Guinee is a damn good forward and his bulk and power make him extremely difficult to stop. Good chances fell to him as well as Dalian's Ahn in the 1st half, but it was Guinee's early 2nd half goal that made the difference. The goal was on a penalty kick, coming off a good scoring chance where he was pushed in the back. Dalian tried to get back into it, but didn't have enough to equalize. Original Prediction: Chongqing 0 - 2 Dalian.


Chengdu Blades 0 - 1 Tianjin Teda : RIGHT
Tianjin needed to regroup and facing Chengdu would be a fairly easy way to do that, however they didn't make things easy for themselves. Much of the 1st half was controlled by Chengdu, though Tianjin had a decent counterattack. In the 2nd half, Hao Junmin was able to make some moves on a defender and knock in a goal midway through the half that was enough to secure them 3 points and move them into 2nd place. Original Prediction: Chengdu 1 - 2 Tianjin.


Changchun Yatai 1 - 0 Shanghai Shenhua : WRONG
Yes, I was wrong, but this is one I love to be wrong about. Cao Tianbao's header off a 1st half corner was enough in what was a fairly rough game, as has been Shanghai's trend this year, Changchun received 4 yellow cards and Shanghai received 6, Yu Tao personally received 2 of the cards and so was shown red in the 51st minute. Actually going down a man helped Shanghai briefly as they quickly came up with 2 solid chances, but neither made it past the keeper. Changchun regrouped and made some substitutions and was able to claim a nice victory over Shenhua. Original Prediction: Changchun 1 - 1 Shanghai.


Shaanxi Zhongxin 1 - 0 Beijing Guoan : WRONG
See the full, miserable write-up on this here. Sad...Original Prediction: Shaanxi 0 - 1 Beijing.

Shandong Luneng 1 - 0 Qingdao Zhongneng : RIGHT
The Shandong derby should have been full of fireworks, though as expected Qingdao was a little more pumped up to play in this one. Qingdao went on the attack early and probably should have been given a penalty kick, though Shandong quickly responded with some chances of its own. The lone goal came early in the first half off a beautifully delivered Wang Yongpo free kick from just outside the box. Shandong continued to press, but was unable to get another goal, while Qingdao came up with a few counter attacking opportunities, game ends, Shandong wins, end of story. Original Prediction: Shandong 3 - 1 Qingdao.

2-6 for the week, but maintaining my 21-19 winning record for the season...

Matchday 6 Review : Shaanxi Zhongxin Early in the

Poor Lee!  With all the pressure on his team, this is just about the time fans will take a serious look at him and start questioning his managerial prowess.  In reality, we aren't that bad off through our 6 league matches and 4 Champions League ones, however expectations were a lot higher at the start of the year and inconsistent play has been killing us.

Lee can only seriously be blamed for his coaching errors, like not putting a taller defender on the pitch against Ulsan during Matchday 3.  This week, Lee had to deal with a highly depleted lineup, having Huang Bowen out for 3 months is bad, but Tao Wei missed the match with an injury as well and Yang Hao was out with a fever.  Guoan's lineup looked far different from what we've seen most of the season, with Sui Dongliang and Wang Hao both featuring in the lineup for the first time this year.  Further, missing Tao or Huang is okay, but missing both is extremely tough as there is a lack of creativity in the midfield.

That, and the nearly 40,000 screaming fans that showed up in Xian made for a very tough environment for Guoan.  Shaanxi was in control of the game early and was able to put together a number of great chances, getting unlucky a few times, before finally putting the ball past the keeper in the 17th minute on an unusual play.  The ball was swung in from the left, Paul and a Shaanxi player went up for a header and both missed it when the ball bounced off Zhang Yonghai and fell to a Shaanxi player whose shot on net was headed wide before Wang Erzhuo was left all alone on the back post and knocked the ball in.  

At the half Guoan was lucky to only be down by one and after the game Lee commented about how horrible the first half play was.  A major part of the problem had to be how unfamiliar the midfield was with each other and how they weren't up to match fitness.  Lee took off Wang Changqing at the start of the 2nd half and put Guo Hui on, then took off Sui shortly after that, giving Yan Xiangchuang a chance to work his magic again (unfortunately he wasn't able to).  Guoan had a few chances throughout the game, but nothing that was good enough to equalize.

Where do we go from here?  The first thing, obviously, is to hope that our players get healthy and come back soon, though we should be able to get by without him (them).  In 10 matches in all competitions, we have 3 wins, 4 draws, and 3 losses.  It is still early days in the league and no team has clearly jumped ahead and up to now no team has impressed, it still appears there is not a squad head and shoulders above the rest and that it's not time to seriously freak out, YET.

The China derby is coming up on Friday and Guoan has a few days to recover and prepare.  A packed house at Gongti, a holiday Friday, and best of all, Shanghai coming to town should be enough to motivate the squad.  The quicker we can forget this result the better in an overall crazy CSL weekend.

CSL Matchday 6 Preview Part 2

Due to some personal obligations, I sort of took a few days off, but I'm back and (almost) better than ever. Like a lot of Guoan fans, I'm looking forward to May 1, not for the holiday, but for our match against 9-1. Yes, it's about that time, the team formerly known as Shanghai Shenhua will now go by 9-1. My predictions were shit yesterday, so was the football, but there are some pretty tasty matchups to look forward to today, here goes:

4.26  15:30    Chongqing Lifan - Dalian Shide

However you want to slice or dice it, Chongqing's a crap football team.  Dalian is not, they've been mediocre for much of the season, but it seems like Ahn Junghwan is finally adjusting to the CSL and getting more opportunities.  While it's not always easy to play in Chongqing, this one should be pretty cut and dry.  Prediction: Chongqing 0-2 Dalian.

4.26  15:30     Chengdu Blades - Tianjin Teda

There was a time a few weeks back that Tianjin coming to town would be something to fear, now its nothing special.  This Tianjin side has been totally exposed as a solid attacking team with absolutely no defense.  Fortunately for them, Chengdu's attack isn't very strong and so Tianjin should have no problem outscoring them.  It's going to be a fight, but Tianjin should win in the end.  Prediction: Chengdu 1 - 2 Tianjin.

4.26  15:30     Changchun Yatai - 9-1

Changchun delivered an excellent fixture when they went head to head against Shandong, can they do the same against 9-1?  9-1 is coming off a midweek loss in Korea and will hope to regroup, their inconsistency over the season makes it hard to predict which 9-1 side will come out.  This being in Changchun, I have a feeling its going to be a pretty tight match.  Prediction: Changchun 1 - 1 Shanghai.

4.26  16:00     Shaanxi Zhongxin - Beijing Guoan

Our guys in green take on the northwest wolves on the road (full preview here), they're up for it, but this has been a pretty screwy weekend so far, I could definitely see this ending in a draw, but I'm confident in Guoan.  Prediction: Shaanxi 1 - 2 Guoan.

4.26  19:30     Shandong Luneng - Qingdao Zhongneng

We have derby day in Jinan as Shandong and Qingdao do battle in prime time.  Shandong only managed a midweek draw in Seoul, while Qingdao has struggled all season.  There's always talk about throwing the records out for a derby, and you gotta expect a lot of effort from Qingdao, but it takes more than effort to win a football match.  Shandong should cruise to a win, with Antar putting in one of the goals.  Prediction: Shandong 3 - 1 Qingdao.

Matchday 6 Preview : Shaanxi Zhongxin

Guoan's two matches against Ulsan in the Champions League were pretty bad, two losses and losing Huang Bowen for much of the season. So far this year, the team has been able to regroup after Champions League struggles and hopefully this week will be no different. You have to want to win every competition you are in, but for the fans, winning the league is a far more important goal than Champions League success. We still haven't lost in the league and are only 4 points back of Henan at the top, who've played one more game than us.

The lineup is definitely going to be effected by Huang's loss and it will be interesting to see how Lee handles it. Our midfield is packed with many options. Matic is a must at holding midfield, but from there, you have the choice of Du Wenhui, Yan Xiangchang, Ryan Griffiths, Tao Wei, Yang Hao, and Martinez. Many of these players can play on the wing or in an attacking role, and a player like Yan or Du is in a position where its time to step up and be stars or just eek out a career as mediocre role players. They show a lot of promise, but its time that they deliver on it.

I've been hard on Huang all year, he's struggled this season, has yet to score a goal, and even missed a critical penalty kick. However, losing a player like Huang for the better part of the season is massive. Huang, best wishes from all us fans and hope you'll get well very soon. While the manager was having a hard time putting together a midfield that worked and his decision making now gets easier, it's tough dealing with this loss.

Back to this game and our opponents, the "Northwestern Wolves", Shaanxi Zhongxin. They are a fairly weak team with a bad home record, losing twice (to Shandong and Shenzhen) on their own pitch and drawing once. Yet this is a side that always seems to get at Lee Jangsoo, last year Guoan lost at home and drew on the road while in 2007 Guoan only managed 2 draws. The fans in Xian are famous for being rabid and can get a little wild, fans were allowed in for the practice and according to Lee the tense atmosphere influenced the squad's practice.

The behavior of Shaanxi's fans has served as a motivating factor for Guoan. Ryan Griffiths said that he definitely wants to score a goal after getting an idea what things would be like on Sunday, Du Wenhui declared that Guoan has to shut up the big Xian crowd and come away with 3 points.

I love Du's spirit and motivation, now let's hope he can deliver. Enjoy this beautiful Sunday weather in the capital and get ready for the action, kick off's at 16:00.

CSL Matchday 6 Preview Part 1

Changsha Jinde - Guangzhou Baiyunshan
Changsha is back at home and that's a scary thing for football fans. Guangzhou's attack is solid, led by the CSL's leading scorer, Xu Liang, while Changsha's defense can hold back many defenses, Guangzhou will be too much. Prediction: Changsha 0-1 Guangzhou.

Jiangsu Sainty - Henan Construction
Henan is at the top of the table and upstarts Jiangsu have been playing excellent football. The foreign heavy Henan attack should just squeak past Jiangsu's Wuhan pair. Prediction: Jiangsu 2-3 Henan.

Shenzhen - Hangzhou Greentown
Can Shenzhen finally take advantage of being at home? Hangzhou is a beatable side, but Shenzhen will have to play more like they did against Shandong rather than their nightmare against Shanghai. For Hangzhou, this is a match that decides what kind of season they will have, signs point to it not being good. Prediction: Shenzhen 1-1 Hangzhou.

Sorry for the brief post shying away from the format, but this is done entirely on an iPhone as I try to get these out before tomorrow's games. Special thanks to Pass By Bar, whose wireless i'm using to write this. It's nice to have visitors but everything will be back to normal and my full preview of Guoan's match will be up.

Wherever you are this Friday night, raise a glass, cheers Beijing.