Chinese Super League title race reignited after shock loss for Guangzhou Evergrande
- Beijing Guoan close the gap at the top of CSL to one point
This weekend’s games saw a shock loss for league leaders and title favourites Guangzhou Evergrande, who lost 1-0 at home to newly promoted side Wuhan Zall.
The hosts, whose fans had acknowledged the upcoming 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China on October 1 with a huge national flag on the pitch before kick off and saw Tianhe Stadium belting out a rousing rendition of the patriotic Ode to the Motherland, did not see the game go quite to plan.
Evergrande will be ruing Anderson Talisca’s shot that hit the frame of the goal and a whole host of last-ditch blocks to prevent the league leaders from scoring.
The hosts had dominated possession – 71 to 29 per cent – and had 27 attempts on goal to the Wuhan side’s five in a game they should have won, but the only statistic that mattered was the solitary goal scored by the visitors’ Liu Yun to decide the game for Li Tie’s side.
One is now the difference in points at the top of the table, when a month ago Fabio Cannavaro’s league leaders were seven points clear at the summit and on course for an eighth Chinese Super League title in nine seasons.
Say what you want about Chinese football, but you certainly could not script it
They drew 1-1 with Chongqing Lifan and lost 3-1 to Jiangsu Suning since they beat Beijing Guoan 3-1 away in mid August. There was a month break in the league between the Chongqing and Jiangsu matches and it has all changed at the top.
Now they can feel Beijing Guoan breathing down their necks.
This weekend, the capital club negotiated their short trip to play against Tianjin Tianhai with a 3-0 win thanks to goals from John Hou Saeter, Zhang Yuning and Renato Augusto.
Much maligned striker Cedric Bakambu was an unused substitute in Tianjin and although replacement striker Zhang Yuning scoring proved some of his detractors right, the fact that the win took them to within a point of the top of the table does indicate that some of the criticism might have been too pointed.
Beijing Guoan have had an unusual season so far. They led the way for much of the season, but then had a slump that also saw them lose star man Jonathan Viera to injury and dismiss head coach Roger Schmidt, replacing him with former Lyon boss Bruno Genesio.
That initially looked like a mistake, but the Beijing board could yet be proved right.
Champions Shanghai SIPG have not given up hope of retaining their title. They beat Henan Jianye at Shanghai Stadium on Sunday with the 3-0 win meaning they are only three points off the top of the table themselves.
Oscar, one of the most consistent performers in the league since his arrival from Chelsea in 2016, put the champions ahead before a Fernando Karanga equaliser just after the interval. Li Shenglong stepped up in the 90th minute to ensure the destination of the trophy remains a three-horse race with just five games remaining.
We might have an answer when the football continues. Beijing Guoan host Shanghai SIPG on the next match day in a game that will have an impact on the title race.
A win for the home side at Workers’ Stadium should end the champions’ hopes of making it two in a row and drive their own dreams of a first title in the capital since 2009. It will also pile pressure on Evergrande no matter what their result the Friday night away at the other newly promoted side Shenzhen.
What muddies the waters of an already unclear race is that the next matches are not until the weekend of October 18 as the league is taking another prolonged break ahead of China’s World Cup qualifying games against Guam and the Philippines as they look to build on their 5-0 opening win over Maldives away in Male earlier this month.
There will then be another two-week break at the start of November to ensure the best preparations for Marcello Lippi’s side’s match against Syria as they look to qualify for a second World Cup.
When the league resumes again it is with another potential title decider in the form of Evergrande vs SIPG in Guangzhou on November 22 – the equivalent of which on the eve of National Day last year was vital to the Shanghai side ending Evergrande’s seven-season spin of securing the silverware.
While these breaks might all benefit the national team – whose last 23-man squad was made up of 15 players from the three top sides – you have to wonder about its effect on the domestic league.
No other league with aspirations of being one of the best in the world – and the CSL has stated its aim of being the sixth best, for what it is worth – has such prolonged pauses.
There was a similar hokey-cokey at the top in the final weeks of last season, but the more time goes on, the more the landscape changes. SIPG’s talisman Hulk was out for months and no matter what his club’s miracle medic did, the time off helped him return. Similarly, Evergrande’s aggressive naturalisation policy might see them have several more “Chinese” players by the end of the season.
Say what you want about Chinese football, but you certainly could not script it.
