Matchday 2 Recap

Matchday 2 offered a lot less scoring than its first incarnation and some more surprises.  While I did pretty crappy on my predictions, as the season moves on and things start to become clear, I should be doing a lot better.

Dalian Shide 1 - 0 Henan Jianye : WRONG

Zhao Mingjian opened up Dalian's home campaign on a positive note by scoring the matches only goal to help them win 1-0.  My 1-1 prediction was a bit off.

Shandong Luneng 1 - 0 Shaanxi Zhongxin : RIGHT

I was a little surprised with how Shaanxi didn't come out to play.  Shandong dominated their home opener and had a number of chances, Lebanese midfielder Antar knocked in the difference maker in the 57th minute toe seal the game.  Original prediction Shandong 2 - 1 Shaanxi.

Chengdu Blades 1 - 0 Shanghai Shenhua : WRONG

I was wrong about this match, but happily so, by far this was my favorite result of the weekend, it almost makes up for Du Wenhui's error.  You see, there's nothing I love more than seeing Shanghai lose as I really, really hate Shanghai.  I also really hate Mao Jianqing, seeing him miss time and again and blow chances made me extremely happy.

Chongqing Lifan 1 - 1 Qingdao Zhongneng : RIGHT

The only game I nailed, Guinee scored his 2nd goal of the CSL campaign to lead the league in scoring off a corner kick in the 11th minute, this guy's going to be pretty unstoppable throughout the season even though his team will be horrible.  Qingdao's equalizer came from Li Taiyong just before halftime.

Jiangsu Sainty 0 - 1 Changchun Yatai : WRONG

Jiangsu is very unlucky not to have a point, they played hard against Shanghai Shenhua and in their home opener they had a lot of chances, but just couldn't put one away.  They even had a penalty kick that was missed, these are opportunities that they'll need to put away if they want to stay up.  Changchun capitalized on Jiangsu's weak attack knocking in a header off a set piece to win the match.  I said 1-nil to Jiangsu, in fact it turned out the other way, if they don't turn things around its going to be a long season as they are now the only team without a point.

Shenzhen 1 - 2 Guangzhou Baiyunshan : WRONG

I got the score right, but had the wrong team winning as Shenzhen failed to repeat their impressive performance in the season's opening game.  Guangzhou's goals came off of 2 headers, 1 late in the first half and the other late in the 2nd sandwiching a 2nd half Shenzhen goal.  Xu Liang scored the winning goal for Guangzhou, securing them the first of the year's Guangdong derbies.

Hangzhou Greentown 0 - 2 Tianjin Teda : RIGHT

Tianjin continued their success with a 2-nil win at Hangzhou with a goal n the 20th minute off a Mao Biao cross into the box and a scramble in which Wang Xinxin finally put the ball in the net, Cao Yang killed the game in the 86th minute off a sweet goal giving Tianjin the win.  A 2-0 scoreline would appear to be a one-sided drubbing, but reality was far different with chance after chance falling to Hangzhou players who simply couldn't put the ball in the net.  Tianjin remains at the top of the league, with a perfect record so far.

Changsha Jinde 0 - 0 Beijing Guoan : WRONG

Du Wenhui, must I say more?!?

A pretty miserable first week, getting only 3 out of the 8 matches right.