We’re back for Round Four of the Chinese Super League, and fans did not have to wait long this time around.
After a nearly two-week wait between Rounds Two and Three, the start of Round Four came just five days after the end of Round Three as things start to heat up in league action in the Middle Kingdom.
Once again, we’re here to round up all the results from the round, with some high scoring matches to entertain the fans, while results start to provide a clearer picture of how the competition is likely to take shape over the next few weeks.
Wuhan Three Towns 2-3 Cangzhou Mighty Lions
The first fixture of the round saw an impressive five goals scored as one-time Chinese Super League champions Wuhan Three Towns hosted Cangzhou Mighty Lions, a team that many expected to be facing a tough relegation battle before the season began.
However, Brazilian forward Héber opened the scoring for the visitors after just 21 minutes of play, following up on his first goal with the club in Round Three of the competition.
Cangzhou held onto their slim lead through half-time, and things turned worse for Three Towns after goalkeeper Liu Dianzuo was given his marching orders just shy of the hour mark.
This opened the floodgates, as Héber netted his second of the match just three minutes later and Oscar Maritu, who has been in conversations about potentially naturalising to play for the China National Team in the future, scored in the 68th minute.
At 3-0 down, there looked like no way back for Wuhan, but Jiang Zhipeng gave them hope in the 74th minute before Pedro Henrique scored an 86th minute penalty to pull them within one.
The home side couldn’t find a further way through, however, and they suffered their third defeat of the season while Cangzhou picked up their second win of the campaign to put them seventh in the league.
Changchun Yatai 1-2 Shanghai Shenhua
After a disappointing loss to Tianjin Jinmen Tiger in Round Three, Changchun Yatai came up against tough opposition in Shanghai Shenhua, who themselves were fresh off the back of a 3-0 demolishing of Shandong Taishan.
The Shanghai club duly controlled things early on and took a lead after just 25 minutes of play. A Xie Pengfei corner lofted high into the box for Jiang Shenglong to climb above the defensive line and head comfortably down into the bottom corner, leaving goalkeeper Wu Yake sprawling in vain.
Prior to the opening goal, Changchun had been dealt two sorry blows as striker Cheng Changcheng and centre back Lazar Rosić both had to be substituted with injuries, leaving manager Cheng Yang looking to his bench for answers.
Despite their strength, Shenhua’s lead did not last until the break, as Brazilian forward Guilherme sent a deep cross into the opposition box, picking out a wide open Tan Long near the back post, who coolly headed into the net and brought his side level.
Both sides began to play more evenly throughout the match, but Changchun were once again forced to make changes, with Guilherme subbed at half time and Tan Long being stretched off in added time after the regulation 90 minutes.
This allowed Shenhua to continue playing long after the seven minutes of stoppage time had expired, with João Teixeira striking firmly from the edge of the box in the 99th minute, with Wu Yake unable to do anything, giving his side a 2-1 victory right at the death.
The result sees Changchun Yatai slip further down the table while Shenhua maintained their perfect start to the 2024 campaign, making them one of the early favourites for the title this season.
Henan 0-2 Shenzhen Peng City
When Henan welcomed Shenzhen Peng City to Hanghai Stadium, it saw a match between two teams who were still searching for their first win of the season, with early points so vital for both sides.
It was deadlocked by half-time, with neither side able to find a way through, but in the 66th minute, Shenzhen finally found the net through Spanish attacking midfielder Edu García, giving them a vital 1-0 lead to fight for.
Henan’s fortunes turned for the worst in the 83rd minute when Xu Haofeng received a red card, gifting the visitors a penalty late in the match. García duly delivered from the spot, scoring his second of the match and giving his side all three points as the hosts were unable to fight their way back with so little time remaining.
The loss sees Henan drop towards the bottom of the table while Shenzhen have managed to pull themselves up to 11th in the table, showing how close things are at this early stage of the season.
More results like this will have an immediate impact on either side, who will be looking to claim points at every opportunity as the season starts to hit its stride.
Qingdao Hainiu 0-1 Shandong Taishan
After being embarrassed by Shanghai Shenhua in Round Three, Shandong Taishan travelled to Qingdao determined to get back on track at the first opportunity.
Facing Qingdao Hainiu, a team that had lost every match to start the season, should have allowed the team an opportunity to build some momentum and boost morale with a convincing victory.
However, the league’s bottom dwellers put up a fight and kept last season’s cup and league runners-up at bay through 90 minutes of regulation play, seeing their chance at claiming their first point of the season snatched away by Pedro Delgado in the 91st minute.
With 20 shots, including seven on target, Shandong will have hoped to score more than just one, but three points are worth more than any number of goals and the Jinan club will be satisfied to be back in the win column, hoping to take forward this victory and build more momentum moving forward.
Beijing Guoan 2-2 Shanghai Port
Results have been up and down for Beijing Guoan and Shanghai Port through the opening few matches of the 2024 season, with two wins and a draw registered each before this fixture.
Both teams had chances to win the match and both were ahead at different stages of the match, with the visitors opening the scoring after just 10 minutes through Chinese international striker Wu Lei, with his 155th career goal for the club in all competitions.
Beijing continued to battle and found their way through just 17 minutes later through Guga, with both sides heading into half time tied at one apiece.
It took a long time for either side to break the deadlock again, with an 82nd minute penalty from Zhang Yuning seeing the capital city club take the lead with little time for the visitors to respond.
However, as has been a trend in the Chinese Super League this season, Shanghai Port duly responded six minutes into stoppage time, once again through Wu Lei, to snatch a draw right at the end, giving both clubs once again identical records in the league to date, with the two sides sitting third and fourth in the league respectively after this one.
Nantong Zhiyun 1-0 Meizhou Hakka
Nantong Zhiyun and Meizhou Hakka entered this Round Four matchup tied on one point each, desperate to claim more points and start to push themselves away from the relegation battle that both were starting to find themselves in.
It was a close match, but the home side edged out the visitors in almost every category, controlling the majority of possession (56%), having more shots (11 to 7) and having that ever-crucial shot on target that Meizhou failed to achieve.
That single shot on target was enough to secure Nantong all three points as 31-year-old defensive midfielder Kang Cao scored his first goal of the season, ensuring Mihajlo Jurasović’s side climbed up to 10th in the league, putting some distance between themselves and the bottom dwellers.
Tianjin Jinmen Tiger 2-3 Chengdu Rongcheng
Fans were treated to a high scoring affair when Tianjin Jinmen Tiger welcomed Chengdu Rongcheng to TEDA Football Stadium, fresh off the back of a 1-0 away victory against Changchun Yatai.
Things did not go as planned for Tianjin in this one, however, as they found themselves a goal down after just 21 minutes courtesy of Brazilian striker Felipe scored his first of the season.
With the score at 1-0 by half time, Tianjin still had time to battle their way back into this one, but their misery was compounded just six minutes after the restart as Felipe netted his second, creating a mountain of a challenge for the hosts.
Things went from bad to worse as Lei Wu scored eight minutes later, effectively putting the match beyond Tianjin’s reach. Italian forward Andrea Compagno, who had already scored twice before this one, pulled his side back with goals in the 92nd and 97th minute of the match.
It was too little, too late however as the hosts suffered their first defeat of the season, slipping to fifth in the standings and joining four other teams on seven points, creating a crowded middle of the table battle.
Zhejiang 1-2 Qingdao West Coast
The final match of the round provided arguably the biggest upset of all the matches witnessed, as Qingdao West Coast, a debutant in the Chinese Super League, secured a narrow 2-1 victory over a strong Zhejiang side that is looking to compete at the top end of the table.
While not performing as poorly as their fellow Qingdao rivals Hainiu, West Coast aren’t expected to pick up too many points this season, especially against stronger opposition, and this result will have surprised many.
They took the lead after half an hour through Angolan forward Nelson da Luz, on loan from Portuguese side Vitória de Guimarães, giving them a lead that they would carry into the half-time break.
Five minutes after the restart and Zhejiang looked like the team many would expect to see, with Deabeas Owusu-Sekyere netting to pull them level once again. However, it was West Coast who took the better of their chances, with Nelson da Luz scoring his second of the match in the 66th minute of play.
Zhejiang could not find a way back into the match and suffered their first defeat of the 2024 season, with plenty of questions to be answered as the team moves forward, especially with star striker and last season’s CSL top goalscorer Leonardo’s sudden lack of goals.