Shandong capitalise on Xin's red card
Shenzhen Jianlibao's dreams of finishing the season with a league and cup double evaporated in a moment of rashness as Xin Feng's 30th-minute red card opened the gates for Shandong Luneng to win the inaugural Chinese Super League Cup final 2-0 at the Shandong Sports Centre yesterday.
The league champions succumbed to the side who finished immediately below them in the table with Shandong scoring two beautifully struck goals: a 35th-minute free-kick from Shu Chang and a 49th-minute drive from Wang Chao. However, it was the dismissal of Xin for the foul that led to Shu's strike that sealed Shenzhen's fate.
After a promising opening half an hour, the Shenzhen defence was caught pushing out, Li Jinyu swooped and the 26-year-old Xin rashly lunged from behind to earn his marching orders.
'It was a red card. It was a good decision because Li was in a clear position to shoot,' admitted Shenzhen's Polish defender Marek Zajac. 'But if Xin hadn't fouled him, maybe Li wouldn't have shot and we could have defended him normally.'
Xin's coach, Zhu Guanghu, stopped short of criticising him, but implied that he wasn't too happy with his choice. 'It's down to experience. He had to make a judgment. I think this will help him in the future,' Zhu said carefully.
Shandong captain Shu capitalised immediately, driving the free-kick into the top corner of the side of the goal that keeper Li Leilei should have been protecting and Shandong never seriously looked a doubt for the first leg of what could be a double for them, with next weekend's FA Cup final still to come.
'We're very excited and very happy,' declared Shandong's Serbia and Montenegran coach Ljubisa Tumbakovic. 'The atmosphere really helped our team's performance. We played a wonderful match.'
That atmosphere, generated by around 40,000 passionate fans, was stoked efficiently at halftime by the lonely group of 16 Shenzhen supporters at one end of the stadium. Turning away and patting their backsides in unison ensured a cauldron of noise greeted the return of the players, but their abusive pantomime backfired.
Within four minutes of the restart, Zhou Haibin's overhit corner was greeted on the edge of the box with a thumping finish from Wang Chao.
Afterwards several Shenzhen players tried to hide their disappointment, joking that the silver medals gave them a full set for the season - gold in the league, silver in the League Cup and bronze in the FA Cup - all without seeing their pay for eight months.
It signals the end of the strangest of campaigns, and presumably the break-up of a team who shone - briefly but brightly - in the most unlikely circumstances. Someone in Hollywood should be buying the film rights.
