In the 9th round of the 2024 Chinese Super League, a key battle began, and Shanghai Port challenged Qingdao Manatee as a guest. Harbour currently has 15 points from 7 rounds, 4 wins and 3 draws, but due to Shandong Taishan and Beijing Guoan taking the lead in winning, Harbour's ranking has fallen to 5th place. Qingdao Manatee is ranked 14th with 7 points with 2 wins, 1 draw and 5 losses, the same points as Meizhou Hakka in the relegation zone, so there is a lot of pressure on relegation. The two teams met over two legs last season, with Harbour winning them all, including a 5-0 away win. In terms of starters, Wu Lei, Gustavo and Vargas form a trident, Oscar, Xu Xin, and Chitadini form a three-midfielder, Li Shuai, Wei Zhen, Jiang Guangtai and Wang Shenchao form a defensive line, and goalkeeper Yan Junling.
In the first half, Harbour dominated possession and created several times the number of shots on goal compared to Qingdao Manatee, who could only threaten through sporadic counter-attacking opportunities. In the 10th minute, Oscar completed the ball at the back, and then advanced with the ball from the left side, and passed diagonally into the penalty area with the outside instep, but it was confiscated by the goalkeeper too closely, and in the 14th minute, Manatee counterattacked, Kanggua cut inside the goal on the right side, and the ball was slightly off the post!
In the 26th minute, Kanggua and his teammates played a two-on-one cooperation and burst into the penalty area, Jiang Guangtai actively returned to the defense and fell to the ground to tackle the ball to resolve the danger; In the 27th minute, the offensive of the harbor scored a goal, Vargas sent the ball over the top into the penalty area, Wu Lei stepped forward to get a single chance, and then scored with a low shot, 1-0!
In the 44th minute, Gustavo scored with a header in front of the goal, but unfortunately it was ruled offside and the goal was invalidated; one minute later, Oscar scored with a wonderful long-range shot, but his teammate was offside, and the goal was also disallowed; at half-time, Harbour temporarily led 2-0. Harbour had 72 per cent possession in the half, creating 13 shots on goal with five on target and Manatee with three on goal and two on target.
Yibian fought again, in the 52nd minute, Kanggua crossed from the left, Li Hailong hit the goal with a header in front of the goal, Yan Junling struggled to save the ball! Then Boakye was blocked from the bottom line in stoppage time; in the 58th minute, Kanggua tried to shoot from outside the penalty area, Yan Junling tried to save the ball again; and then the corner kick Sha Yibo shot hard, but the linesman signaled that the offside goal was invalid!
In the 61st minute, Oscar crossed from the right side of the field, Gustavo scored with a hammer in front of the goal, 3-0! The harbor basically sealed the victory; in the 78th minute, Oscar broke through the front court to make a foul, Xu Xin drove the set-piece, Wang Shen stepped forward to shoot the goal, 4-0, the game completely lost suspense! In the 87th minute, the harbor played a sharp counterattack, Feng Jin accurately and directly helped Wu Lei get a single chance, the latter easily pushed the goal, 5-0! After that, neither side scored, and the harbor defeated Qingdao Manatee 5-0 away from home, extending the unbeaten record of the season. With 3 points in hand, the harbor was also able to temporarily overtake Chengdu Rongcheng to rise to second place in the standings, 2 points behind Shenhua.