On October 28th, the 29th round of the Chinese Super League ended with Qingdao Lower Coast playing 1-1 with Chengdu Rongcheng at home. A draw not only locked up the relegation seat for Qingdao in the early rounds, but also made Football Newspaper sigh: three consecutive victories are the cornerstone of their successful relegation.
Despite Qingdao West Coast's first lead and then being equalized, the draw was significant for the relegation picture. On the current table, Cangzhou Lions have 29 points, followed by Qingdao West Coast, Meizhou Hakka with 27 points, Qingdao Hainiu with 26 points, and Shenzhen Xinpengcheng in the bottom two with only 26 points. Nantong Zhiyun's 22 points have already confirmed relegation. Even if Meizhou Hakka, Qingdao Hainiu and Shenzhen Xinpengcheng all win in the final round, Qingdao West Coast can still be relegated by virtue of their existing points, provided that Meizhou Hakka beats Shandong Taishan on the road, Qingdao Hainiu beats Cangzhou Lions at home, and Shenzhen Xinpengcheng beats Nantong Zhiyun at home. But these three conditions must be met at the same time.
If all four teams have 29 points, they will have to be relegated by winning or losing against each other. Currently, Qingdao Hainiu is leading with 15 points, Qingdao West Coast with 10 points, Cangzhou Lions with 6 points and Shenzhen Xinpengcheng with only 2 points. Qingdao West Coast managed to stay up thanks to a win against Cangzhou Lions, while Shenzhen Xinpengcheng scored only 2 points against their relegation rivals, all from a draw with Cangzhou Lions, and suffered a double loss against Qingdao.
Behind Qingdao West Coast's success in relegation was their previous three consecutive victories, including defeating Nantong Zhiyun on the road, Shandong Taishan and taking down Shenzhen Xinpengcheng at home. These three games, especially against relegation rivals, were crucial. At the same time, they seized the opportunity of Taishan's multi-front battle to add to the relegation.
For newly relegated Qingdao West Coast, summarizing this season's performance and preparing for next season is undoubtedly the next priority.
