CSL Roundup: Goals galore in Shanghai Derby

As the headline says, there were plenty of goals in the Shanghai derby between Shanghai SIPG and Shanghai Shenhua, but before we get to that, let’s move back to Friday and the other high-scoring match this weekend.

Tianjin TEDA welcomed Changchun Yatai to the Olympic Sports Centre in Tianjin and the guests robbed the hosts blind. At half time, a sorry TEDA side were down 3-0 and Changchun added another three after the break before TEDA got one measly goal back well into extra time to bring the final tally to 5-1 in favour of Changchun.

The Shanghai Derby. What a second half that was. After not much happening in the first and the score still 0-0 the second kicked off with a loud bang. After ten minutes of relative nothingness in the second half, we all of a sudden got five goals in seven minutes! Three goals in quick succession from the 56th to the 60th minute for SIPG meant that they jumped out to a three-goal lead before Carlos Tevez, who had come on as a substitute at half time, pulled one back for Shenhua in the 61st. China striker Wu Lei wouldn’t have any of that however, as he finished the goalscoring frenzy in the 63rd minute. Hulk added his second in the 75th minute before Li Shenlong put the icing on the cake to one-up Changchun from the day before and walk home as 6-1 winners.

Those two matches alone make the rest of the round seem tame in comparison but it was in no means a boring round. Two or more goals were scored in every single game this round, which is a very impressive number.

At the top end of the table, Guangzhou R&F beat Beijing Guoan 2-1 thanks to Eran Zahavi, while Hebei China Fortune and Tianjin Quanjian beat Liaoning Whowin and Chongqing Lifan respectively by the same numbers. The only other team in the Champions League hunt to lose ground like Beijing did was Shandong Luneng who played bottom of the table Yanbian Funde and drew 1-1, even coming close to losing the game altogether.

Yesterday’s matches provided a mid-table clash between hosts Guizhou Hengfeng Zhicheng and Henan Jianye, a cagey affair that ended in a 2-1 win to the hosts thanks to Liang Xueming and Ruben Castro. The other game to be played yesterday was a match that we before the round pegged as a potential slip-up from Guangzhou Evergrande as they travelled to Jiangsu Suning. And we were somewhat right.

The league leaders took the lead twice in the game, first by a goal from Ricardo Goulart and then from an Alan goal, but lost their leads on both occasions to only come away with a 2-2 draw against a Jiangsu Suning side who is now unbeaten in three matches.