In the 29th round of the Chinese Super League, Qingdao Lower Coast and Chengdu Rongcheng fought to a 1-1 draw at home on October 28th, with Qingdao locking up their relegation status one round ahead of schedule. After the match, Soccer Daily conducted an in-depth analysis of their road to relegation, emphasizing that three consecutive victories were the key to their success.
Although Qingdao West Coast was once ahead at home, it was eventually equalized by Chengdu Rongcheng, which is a little regrettable, but the draw is significant for relegation. Currently, the relegation situation is as follows: Cangzhou Lions 29 points, Qingdao West Coast 29 points, Meizhou Hakka 27 points, Qingdao Hainiu 26 points, and Shenzhen Xinpengcheng and Qingdao Hainiu are tied for the second last place with 26 points. Nantong Zhiyun's 22 points have confirmed relegation. Even if Meizhou Hakka wins in the last round, they can get 30 points, and Qingdao Hainiu and Shenzhen Xinpengcheng can get 29 points each if they win, but Qingdao West Coast has already secured the relegation position.
The biggest risk facing Qingdao West Coast is to lose in the last round, while Meizhou Hakka, Qingdao Hainiu and Shenzhen Xinpengcheng must win at the same time. Otherwise, if one of them fails to win, Qingdao West Coast will be relegated by virtue of their points advantage.
If all four teams have 29 points, the relegated teams will be decided by comparing their mutual wins and losses. According to the current situation, Qingdao Hainiu beat Cangzhou Xionglion, and the four teams' mutual performance points are: Qingdao Hainiu 15 points, Qingdao West Coast 10 points, Cangzhou Xionglion 6 points, and Shenzhen Xinpengcheng 2 points. Qingdao West Coast thus successfully relegated. Shenzhen Xinpengcheng, on the other hand, is in a difficult situation due to the fact that it only gained 2 points in the match against the relegation rivals (both from the draw with Cangzhou Lions), and suffered a double-killing in the meeting with Qingdao's two teams.
Qingdao West Coast's relegation success was thanks to three consecutive victories earlier. They beat Nantong Zhiyun and Shandong Taishan on the road and took down Shenzhen Xinpengcheng at home. Two of these three matches were crucial in the battle between relegation rivals. At the same time, taking advantage of Taishan's multiple fronts to win also added leverage for relegation.
As the promoted horse this season, Qingdao West Coast naturally wants to fully summarize its performance this season after its relegation success and get ready for next season's preparation.
