Welcome to the round three review of Chinese Super League this week. The Tianjin derby between Teda and Quanjian headed the triple threat of derbies with three in three weeks. This derby was also the highlight of round three with other big games between Hebei China Fortune and Shandong Luneng and Guangzhou R & F and Shanghai SIPG. Let’s get straight to the action.
Teda Triple For Acheampong Seals Quanjian’s Fate
Tianjin Teda 3-2 Tianjin Quanjian
In the third and final derby before the international break, Tianjin Teda faced Tianjin Quanjin.
Frank Acheampong would claim the match ball at the end after a scintillating performance which helped Teda claim victory against the rich powerhouses of Quanjian.
His first goal came in the 16th minute with John Obi Mikel getting the assist.
Alexandre Pato and Anthony Modeste scored in the 54th and 78th minute respectively giving them a 2-1 lead going into the last the minutes.
This is where Frank Acheampong stepped back into the action with him scoring 84th and 90th minute goals to put Teda back in front completing the 3-2 comeback.
The win puts Teda above Quanjian and provides Quanjian with their second defeat of the league campaign.
Hopeless Dalian Suffer Beijing Blitz
Dalian Yifang 0-3 Beijing Guoan
Utterly dreadful for Dalian, possibly one of the worst early season starts I’ve seen. Thirteen goals shipped in having scored absolutely none. Out of those thirteen, three came here.
The only positives for Dalian is that they had a few chances early on. I say early quite literally the first ten minutes, as just twelve minutes in Jonathan Soriano scored the penalty they received.
By the hour mark Dalian were 3-0 down and chants came from the crowd calling for manager Ma Lin to go. Utterly, utterly dreadful.
Two For Tardelli As Shandong Go Three From Three
Hebei CFFC 1-2 Shandong Luneng
Shandong continued their fine form against a tricky Hebei China Fortune side.
Diego Tardelli kept his scoring prowess going claiming both of Luneng’s goals seeing them towards a 2-1 victory.
It maybe to early to tell, but Luneng could very well be near the top at the end of the season.
Suning Shatter In Chongqing
Chongqing Lifan 4-1 Jiangsu Suning
Suning never got in to the Chongqing away day. 2-0 down after twenty five minutes definitely did not help.
Suning had a chance to stick a knife into the game, and when Alex Teixeira made it 2-1 the fans and hope. But that was as good as it got.
Two second half goals meant Lifan would get a shock 4-1 victory against Suning.
Shanghai Win In Wu Lei Masterclass
Guangzhou R&F 2-5 Shanghai SIPG
One of the games of the weekend took place between R&F and SIPG.
After R&F were 2-0 up after only ten minutes, they probably thought they were going to cruise to victory. Well those first ten minutes were the only good ones of R&F.
Three goals in twelve minutes for Wu Lei saw SIPG go 3-2 at just the half an hour mark.
Two more in the second half including another from Wu Lei put SIPG in cruise control going 5-2 up cementing their place as a top side in the CSL.
Ighalo Scores In Stalemate With Renhe
Changchun Yatai 1-1 Beijing Renhe
Odion Ighalo got his CSL goalscoring campaign underway in a tight 1-1 draw with Renhe.
In a game I’d have expected Yatai to win, they just couldn’t. They’ll need to find a win from somewhere soon as too long without one could see them slide into the dreaded bottom two.
Alan, The Difference Between Evergrande And Jianye
Guangzhou Evergrande 1-0 Henan Jianye
Not the greatest game ever, not much to report. Evergrande will just be glad their 7th minute missed penalty wasn’t taken advantage of, as they scored the only goal of the game just fifteen minutes later through the title namesake, Alan.
Shenhua Off The Mark
Guizhou Hengfeng 0-1 Shanghai Shenhua
Problems off the field for Shanghai Shenhua weren’t vindicated here as they proved doubters wrong claiming a 1-0 victory.
Hengfeng join Dalian as the only two teams that have lost all of their first three games.
That’s it for this week and next week due to the international break where China feature in the China Cup against Wales, Czech Republic and Uruguay. How do you think they will fare?