This evening, the 18th round of the Chinese Super League (CSL) saw a battle of the heavenly mountain, with Shandong Taishan hosting the leading Wuhan Sanzhen. However, despite having a full-strength team, Taishan failed to take advantage of Wuhan Sanzhen's absence of four foreign aiders, and they are still four points behind Sanzhen with one more round to play.
Shandong Taishan's 1-2 defeat to Shanghai Shenhua in the last round of Chinese Super League matches ended their nine-game winning streak and further widened the gap between them and Wuhan Sanzhen. Before the match, Taishan was four points behind Wuhan Sanzhen with one more round to play, and if they lost to Sanzhen again, they would be seven points behind with one more round to play. If they lose to Sanzhen, they will be seven points behind with one more round of games to play. By then, not only will Taishan bid farewell to the title race in advance, but Wuhan Sanzhen may continue their winning streak and take the longest winning streak in the history of the Chinese Super League.
Shenhua's loss in the last round put huge pressure on the players, who were eager to turn things around against the powerful Sanzhen, but the challenges were many. Fortunately, the previously injured Fellaini and Cressan returned to the starting lineup in time. On Wuhan Sanzhen's side, Malcolm Malcolm, the best scorer in the Chinese Super League this season, and another foreigner, Edmilson, were absent due to injuries, and the center of the midfield, Stancho, did not make the list. Malcolm scored 16 goals and had 2 assists this season, Stancho contributed 7 goals and 8 assists, and Edmilson had 5 goals and 2 assists. Sanzhen's offense relies almost entirely on these foreigners, and their absence will undoubtedly have a huge impact on Sanzhen.
It is worth mentioning that, in addition to the absence of three foreign aiders, the center back Wallace, who was scheduled to start the match, was replaced by Zhang Wentao due to pre-match discomfort and failed to enter the match list. Sanzhen originally relied on foreign aid to create the most powerful offensive and defensive system in the Chinese Super League, but tonight, without foreign aid, they still showed a sharp attack in the first half, especially Gao Junyi, Deng Hanwen and Xie Pengfei's sides brought tremendous pressure on Taishan's defense. On the other hand, Taishan's side, the 433 formation was weak in both offense and defense, with the influence of midfielder Fellaini declining, Guo Tianyu's performance slipping significantly compared to last year, and Moises unable to form an effective cooperation with Cressan after retreating. Taishan fell behind by a goal in the first half, and Liu Yang equalized the score after successive substitutions in the second half, but after that, Taishan's intensity of the game dropped again, and they could only collect one point in the end.
Facing the opponent without four foreign aiders, Shandong Taishan only gained one point, still trailing by four points in the case of one more round of matches. For Wuhan Sanzhen, the away draw against Taishan with four foreign aiders missing is undoubtedly a huge boost to the team's self-confidence. For them, it may only be a matter of time before they realize the myth of Kaiserslautern in the Chinese Super League.
