Reporter Chen Yong reported that the 8th round of the Chinese Super League started tonight, with 7 consecutive battles on stage. Among them, Chengdu Rongcheng and Shandong Taishan, Zhejiang team and Beijing Guoan's two matchups, just at the beginning of the season between the four teams that are generally favored by the outside world, although Taishan, Zhejiang is not satisfactory at the moment, but the two showdowns are not lacking in highlights. And this Saturday, there will be a weight duel of "Mars hitting the earth", and the much-anticipated Shanghai derby will dominate the Chinese Super League stage on Saturday. Three battles, six weekends, worth looking forward to!
Due to the arrangement of a week of double matches next week, most of the games in this round are scheduled to be played on Friday night, starting at 6 o'clock tonight, the 8th round of the Chinese Super League will start 7 games one after another, including Chengdu Rongcheng home against Shandong Taishan, Zhejiang team at home against Beijing Guoan's two games are particularly heavy.
Chengdu Rongcheng are currently second in the standings with 6 wins and 1 loss, just one point behind leaders Shanghai Shenhua. The recruitment at the beginning of the season made Xu Zhengyuan's team squad thick, although the second round of the league was upset by Cangzhou, but then they used a wave of five consecutive wins, showing their strength to the outside world, if this round can continue to win, then a new record of consecutive wins in the history of this team will be born. And their opponent, Shandong Taishan, who was extremely optimistic about the outside world at the beginning of the season, has encountered some difficulties recently, currently only 3 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses ranked seventh, but the lineup of the Taishan team should not be underestimated, ranking first in the Chinese Super League in the number of passes and shots, and defeated the big dark horse Cangzhou Lions 4-1 in the last round, which also allowed the team to regain confidence and morale.
This game is also a South Korean coach derby of the Chinese Super League. Before this round, Xu Zhengyuan called the duel with Taishan "the most difficult game so far", and Cui Kangxi highly affirmed Rongcheng's recent performance, praising the opponent's cohesion and good state, last season against the juniors only won one draw and one loss, Cui Kangxi must be unwilling, but the absence of Judson and Liu Yang will be a big test for the team's defense.
The attack power of the two teams is similar, scoring 14 goals in 7 rounds, but in terms of the number of goals conceded, Chengdu Rongcheng only has 5 and Shandong Taishan has 12, which is also the third highest number of goals conceded in the entire Chinese Super League, second only to Qingdao West Coast and Wuhan Three Towns. The key to winning or losing this game will depend on the offense of both teams, as well as on the defense of Tarzan. Of course, the hard-to-find Phoenix Mountain Stadium and the enthusiastic Chengdu fans will still be the biggest help for the home team.
In addition, at the same time, the Zhejiang team's home game against Beijing Guoan is also worth paying attention to. Away from home Guoan points 12 points ranked fifth, Zhejiang points only 10 points ranked eighth, although the current ranking of the two teams is not high, but they are the outside world before the season optimistic about the "first group", maybe the final from the championship is still far away, but definitely a strong contender for the AFC Champions League.
After the embarrassment of a wave of three consecutive defeats, the Zhejiang team won the Jinmen Tigers at home in the last round, and the state has rebounded, and last year's Chinese Super League Golden Boot Leonardo finally opened the goal account is even more delightful to Zhejiang fans, but the continuous injury of the two major foreign aides Frank and Lucas is a big loss for the team at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends. The situation is clearly better for the national security side, with Adebenro worrying about injuries and Fabio also having the possibility of coming off the bench.
Facing his old club again, Zhang Yuning expects the two sides to deliver a wonderful showdown, and also expresses his "hope to continue the momentum of victory". It is worth mentioning that after the Zhejiang team returned to the Chinese Super League in the 22nd season, Guoan played against it 4 times and only got 1 point, and for Suarez, this game is also a big challenge for him to consolidate the not so stable Guoan position.
The Shanghai derby is scheduled to be played at 7:35 p.m. this Saturday, this duel is bound to be a dragon and tiger fight, and it is also Shanghai Tang since the 6th round of the Chinese Super League ushered in the challenge of Beijing and Lu, once again attracting the attention of the whole country. In the current Chinese Super League standings, Shanghai Shenhua is at the top of the table with a record of 6 wins and 1 draw, and Shanghai Port is in third place with 4 wins and 2 draws with one round less. The two teams had met in the Super Cup two months earlier, when Shenhua won the trophy 1-0 thanks to Malele's "good luck goal". However, Harbour had only three foreign players on the squad, with Gustavo and Cittadini failing to feature in the derby after scoring their first two goals against Tarzan in the last round, and Saturday's clash will be a showcase of the integrity of both sides.
Shanghai Shuangxiong is the strongest attacking team in the Chinese Super League since the beginning, Shanghai Shenhua scored 16 goals in 7 rounds, Shanghai Port scored 15 goals in 6 rounds, in terms of personal data, Wu Lei of Haigang leads the scorer list alone with 7 goals, while Shenhua's Andre and Teixeira have scored 5 goals and ranks in the top 5 scorers.
At the technical and tactical level, Shanghai Port, which has Oscar, is more in control and currently ranks first in possession, while Shanghai Shenhua plays more concisely but more efficiently, they are particularly good defensively, and they are also the team that has conceded the fewest goals in the league so far, but the number of shots on goal is higher than that of their city opponents - former international player and well-known commentator Liu Yue previously commented on the style of the two teams in an exclusive interview with this newspaper, " If we refer to Pep Guardiola's possession-based style of play as pass-and-control flow, and Klopp's pursuit of quick offensive and defensive transitions as heavy metal, then the Shanghai derby may be seen as a duel between pass-and-control and heavy metal. ”
Of course, although the other matchups in the Chinese Super League have nothing to do with the championship battle, but the current Super League relegation situation is very complicated, the entire second half of the team has the risk of relegation, the last five teams are only 2 points apart from each other, a win or loss will bring a huge change in the ranking, the last round of Henan won the first victory, it jumped from the penultimate to the 10th.
It is worth mentioning that there is also a key game in this round of the Chinese League, which is Yunnan Yukun, which is second in the standings, hosts Chongqing Tonglianglong, which is third in the standings.
In this season's Chinese League, Dalian InBev, Yunnan Yukun, Chongqing Tonglianglong, Guangxi Pingguo Hayi, Shijiazhuang Kung Fu and other teams are the favorites, Dalian InBev is currently ranked first with 6 wins, 1 draw and 19 points, and the performance is extremely strong, and Yunnan Yukun ranks second with 5 wins, 1 draw and 16 points in a less game, and the performance is also excellent. Chongqing Tonglianglong ranked third with 4 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss and 14 points, Guangxi Pingguo Ha Yi ranked fourth with 3 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss and 11 points, in addition, Suzhou Dongwu and Shijiazhuang Kung Fu ranked fourth and fifth with 3 wins, 2 draws, 2 losses and 11 points. This direct clash between Yunnan Yukun and Chongqing Tonglianglong is extremely crucial, and if Yunnan Yukun wins, then Yunnan Yukun will have a lead over Dalian InBev.
After this round, the Chinese Super League and the Chinese League will go through 1/4 of the schedule, and this round of competition has also become a "small divide" for the Chinese Super League championship and the Chinese Super League.