China Super League (soccer league)
The 18th round of the Beacon is back with the reigning King of Kings
Shandong Taishan prefecture level city in Shandong
will welcome Wuhan Sanzhen to their own stadium in a matchup that could very well be a turning point in this season's title race.
In the standings, Wuhan Three Town accumulated 43 points with 15 wins and 1 draw to secure the top spot, locking the halfway championship in advance; while Shandong Taishan was in the second place with 39 points with 16 wins and 3 losses; Henan and Shenhua were in the third and fourth places, both accumulating 30 points.
Since the 1-1 draw with Shenhua on June 12, Wuhan Three Town has won 12 consecutive games, just one game short of breaking the 13 consecutive wins of Shandong Luneng and Guangzhou Evergrande in the Chinese Super League; while Shandong Taishan has won 8 consecutive games since the defeat of Zhejiang on June 25, but the recent 1-2 loss to Shenhua has brought the momentum of consecutive victories to an abrupt end, and the pace of the pursuit of Wuhan Three Town has slowed down.
With an imposing promoted team on one side and a veteran powerhouse aiming to defend its title on the other, a summit showdown is about to take place.
Shandong Taishan official poster, passion to meet.
The two teams that have performed the best this season are Wuhan Sanzhen and Shandong Taishan.
According to OPTA, the official data provider of the Chinese Super League, Shandong Taishan had an outstanding performance on the offensive end, averaging 61.2% ball possession, 11,325 touches, 8,580 passes, a pass success rate of 86.2%, 210 chances created, 20 assists, 34 goals, 273 shots, 197 unblocked shots and 93 shots on target.
Wuhan Sanzhen was equally impressive on the offensive end, scoring 51 goals, creating 196 chances, assisting 35, taking 285 shots, 217 unblocked shots and 113 shots on goal.
Shandong Taishan had 808 successful counter-strikes on the defensive end, 105 shots on goal, 12 goals conceded, 158 blocks, 1 turnover leading to a shot on goal, 202 shovels, a 41.4% success rate, 174 clearances, and 21 blocked shots.
Wuhan Sanzhen conceded just nine goals on the defensive end, with turnovers leading to zero shots on goal, 108 shots on goal, 46 shots on target, 728 successful counter-strikes, 211 shovels for a 44.2% success rate, 178 clearances, 128 blocks, and 20 blocked shots.
In the playing style, Shandong Taishan pay attention to control the ball, through the pass to find opportunities, create many opportunities, full of pressure; and Wuhan three town average possession rate of 52.8%, ranked sixth, the Chinese Super League average possession rate of more than 50% of the team only 8, three town is also counted as a pass-control type of team to create opportunities, the face of the strength of the weaker teams to press the force of the same powerful.
The difference is that Wuhan Three Town will appropriately lower their possession rate when facing strong teams, but it still doesn't affect their ability to create offensive chances. For example, in the previous match of the double-killing of last season's double runner-up Shanghai Seaport, the first round's possession rate was 35.8%, and the second round's was even only 28.4%, the scores of the two matches were 2-1 and 1-0, but the chances created by Three Town in the matches were 15 and 8, respectively.
At home against Guoan, Wuhan Sanzhen had 39% possession and created 10 chances with a score of 5-1; on the road against Henan, they had 43.2% possession and created 13 chances with a score of 3-0; and against Meizhou, they had 41.2% possession and created 13 chances with a score of 2-1.
Offense is the best defense.
The pressure on the team's defense was greatly relieved thanks to both teams' superb attacking strength and ability to take chances, while both teams were able to rebound well after conceding the ball, and there were not too many mistakes, both of which were very solid.
Therefore, the away game against Shandong Taishan, Wuhan Three Town will likely continue to lower the ball control, waiting for the opportunity to counterattack, Shandong Taishan will continue the previous ball control play, who advanced the ball, the balance of the game will be broken.
And who can break the balance?
Shandong Taishan celebrating a goal
Shandong Taishan's team is worth 16.63 million euros, the second in the Chinese Super League; Wuhan Sanzhen's team is worth 15.24 million euros, the third in the Chinese Super League; and the first in the rankings is Shanghai seaport, which is worth as much as 33.73 million euros.
In the summer window, Shandong Taishan welcomed back Guo Tianyu, who stayed in the ocean for more than three months, while Wuhan Sanzhen signed Gao Mingyi, the younger brother of Gao Junyi, before going out on loan.
In the Chinese Super League's top scorers list, Wuhan Sanzhen's foreign aid Malcolm scored 16 goals and ranked first, while he used only 45 shots on goal; he hit the target 23 times and ranked second, only behind Guoan's Zhang Yuning.
In addition, Davidson scored 9 goals, Stanchou scored 7, Edmilson and Xie Pengfei scored 5 each; in addition to scoring 7 goals, Stanchou also dished out 8 assists, which is the current assist king in the Super League.
Shandong Taishan's foreign aid Cressan scored in eight consecutive games, totaling eight goals and ranking fourth in the scorers' list; Moises scored five goals and ranked sixth in the Chinese Super League with five assists, in addition to Fellaini and Jin Jingdao scoring four goals each.
The foreigners of both teams have super strength, which is absolutely top-notch when you look at the current Chinese Super League.
Currently in the Chinese Super League, many teams are thinking about how to stay up, 5 foreigners? That's a luxury!
Raise an army for a thousand days and use it for a while.
In a hard fought game, the real heroes will be whoever steps up and is the one to change the team's fortunes.
From August 28th kicked off with the Shenzhen team, Wuhan three towns after the two games are postponed (if not postponed perhaps 13 consecutive wins in the Chinese Super League record has long been broken), the team eliminated the need to travel, there is a longer rest time, but half a month without a game, before the rhythm of the break, the state of how, it is difficult to predict.
Shandong Taishan this side of the situation is not better, the last game has been August 31, but also lost, the good thing is that there is plenty of time to adjust, but injuries are still a problem, manager Hao Wei said before the game, Fellaini can not be on it is not easy to say.
Less than a game ahead of the four points, the three towns of Wuhan, "can afford to lose", but Shandong Taishan can be "can not afford to lose", if the home loss, but also lost to the direct competitors of the championship, but also by the opponent to equalize their own records, more than a game and then seven points behind, then the championship suspense may be over. This season's championship suspense may be over.
Say more, to the court, but also the strength to speak, the stage has been set, the next depends on how the two teams sing a good show.
The Chinese Super League, and even the national soccer team, are in so much need of a good and classic game!
