CSL: Wuhan Zall’s Jean Evrard Kouassi hits double in Shijiazhuang Ever Bright win to ensure longest season is not over yet
- Ivorian’s late winner means that CSL newcomers go back to China League One while Wuhan Zall face Hangzhou Greentown for place in top flight next season
- Never-ending season continues for Hubei-based side after being locked out of city and then trapped in CSL bubble as China battled Covid-19 pandemic
Wuhan Zall’s never-ending Chinese Super League season took another turn on Wednesday afternoon in their relegation play-off game against Shijiazhuang Ever Bright in Dalian.
The teams had drawn the first leg 0-0 meaning that the loser of this decider would be relegated to China League One for next season while the winner lives to fight another day, with another play-off against the second best team in the second tier.
It was Wuhan – newly promoted to the top flight ahead of the 2019 campaign and one of last season’s surprise packages, finishing fifth in the table under coach Li Tie before he was tempted to become China national team manager – that drew first blood.
CSL veteran Jean Evrard Kouassi opened the scoring after 15 minutes when he rifled home a rebound to ensure hope sprang eternal for the Wuhan faithful, who were only allowed back into stadiums for their first game of the season in September.
The 26-year-old Ivorian, who impressed at Shanghai SIPG before moving to Wuhan in 2017, had spoken in April of the bizarre circumstances surrounding the team’s season.
Well before Chinese top flight called off all football in January the club’s players, many of whom are Wuhan natives, were locked out of the city.
Wuhan and Shijiazhuang battle for Chinese Super League survival
First they were in a training camp in Guangdong before travelling to Spain under then coach Jose Gonzalez, the man who replaced Li. The Spaniard was replaced by Pang Li.
The team found themselves trapped in southern Spain with no other clubs willing to play preseason games against them because of unfounded coronavirus fears and only able to communicate with their families through social media.
Wuhan Zall’s players and staff were finally able to return to the city – which had been locked down by Chinese authorities in response to the initial outbreak of coronavirus cases there – in April, after 104 days away.
That would not be the end of their unusual season though. Chinese football authorities got approval for the CSL to kick off but only if the players, staff and officials were confined to “bubble” hotels and Wuhan went with seven other teams to host city Suzhou. The other eight teams in the league were based in Dalian.
Wuhan, despite finishing fifth in the eight-team mini-league, found themselves in Dalian for the second stage, faced with having to win over two legs against Henan Jianye to ensure top flight safety. They lost that and then fell to Qingdao Huanghai on penalties to move on to this dreaded relegation double-header.
The Shijiazhuang side can feel similarly hard done by. The CSL newcomers finished level on points with Wuhan on 17 in that Suzhou group but failed to win their first match-up with Dalian Pro and then fell to Shenzhen, losing both ties by the odd goal in five.
Virus fears see football teams refuse to play Wuhan in Spain
They gave themselves a chance against Wuhan with an equaliser from Matheus, who tapped home at the back post on 54 minutes but as the game edged towards extra time up stepped Kouassi on 86 minutes when he reacted first to a blocked shot to divert home to give Wuhan’s beleaguered players, staff and fans a sliver of hope that they will stay in the top flight.
Shijiazhuang can point to their league record – four wins, five draws and five losses – being far superior to the likes of Tianjin Teda and Henan Jianye who secured safety despite not troubling double figures in the points column.
As for Wuhan, their never-ending season continues. Next up, Hangzhou Greentown.
