Written by Mr. Jamie Mcllroy, Wuhan correspondent of WildEastFootball
原标题: Mushekwi Survives Battering to Batter Shenzhen and Refs in the Spotlight: China League One – Round 8
导读: 中甲专家, 武汉卓尔球迷Jamie对中甲第8轮比赛逐场进行了总结，在这轮比赛的重头戏中，大连一方主场击败了深圳佳兆业，后者掉到了积分榜第三，埃里克森陷入了危机中。
Two huge games meant that round 8 was always going to be an eventful of League One action, but a remarkable performance from Dalian Yifang’s Nyasha Mushekwi and some outrageous refereeing overshadowed everything else. There’s still plenty of other things to discuss, though, with a new manager in Lijiang, a fortunate win in Meizhou and Hanghou Greentown heaping misery on Gao Hongbo among the other points of discussion.
Mushekwi’s Beasting of Shenzhen Shines a Light on Sven’s Problems
Dalian Yifang 2
Mushekwi 4′, 68′
Shenzhen FC 1
Preciado 87′ (pen)
Attendance: 22,691
There were two huge games this week, but the biggest was no doubt in Dalian where Yifang took on Shenzhen FC in a clash of second vs third that will ultimately be remembered as the Nyasha Mushekwi show. The big Zimbabwean forward did it all this week where he scored two powerful headers, survived a potentially leg breaking tackle and missed a penalty as his side emerged 2-1 winners to top the table a quarter of the way through the season.
With Qingdao Huanghai and Beijing Renhe playing out a controversial 0-0 draw 24 hours before, both these sides knew that victory in this Sunday afternoon clash would send them top of the table, but it became clear within four minutes whose day it was going to be as Mushekwi out-jumped and out-muscled Cui Min to head in a Shan Pengfei cross. Cui is among the most physically imposing domestic centre backs in all of China and he could do little to prevent Mushekwi heading past poorly positioned goalkeeper Guan Zhen.
It soon became clear that one of Shenzhen’s primary tactics was to rough up Dalian’s star striker as much as possible, but things really got out of hand in the 62nd minute when centre-back Wang Dalong launched a sickening studs-up, airborne lunge towards the prone leg of Mushekwi in order to prevent a counter-attack. It’s possible that Wang was tentatively going for the ball, but he was so late and his challenge so reckless that it came as a shock to everybody when the card referee Tang Shunqi produced was only a yellow one.
Replays showed Mushekwi’s leg bending at a horrifying angle, but he was soon back on his feet and had powered home a second header from a Cui Ming’an free kick within just three minutes of it looking like his season might be over. Mushekwi celebrated by immediately breaking out into a limp and asking to be subbed off, but Yifang manager Juan Ramon Lopez Caro was having none of it and kept his biggest asset on the field to continue terrorizing Shenzhen’s defence.
There was still time for more refereeing controversy in the last ten minutes as Tang gave Harold Preciado the chance to score his fourth penalty of the season when a ball brushed Shan Pengfei’s naturally positioned arm amidst an aerial challenge. And he returned the favour to Yifang a few minutes later when Aboubakar Oumarou mis-kicked the ball into his own arm. Guan Zhen was on hand to deny Mushekwi the chance to complete his deserved hat-trick from the penalty spot, though.
The day was all about Mushekwi and league leaders Yifang, but the result badly exposes some of Shenzhen’s vulnerabilities. Veteran playmaker Xu Liang missed the game through injury, and Shenzhen had nobody to create anything in his absence. More worrying was the defence where Sven Goran Erickson took the strange step of starting midfielder Zhang Jiaqi at centre-back in a move which failed badly. Shenzhen have now taken just one point from their last three games and, given the fact that their five game winning streak to start the season came courtesy of wins over four of the bottom five and a then shambolic Dalian Transcendence, the Swede needs to turn things around soon to prove that his strong start wasn’t just a case of the Emperor’s New Clothes.
Farcical Refereeing Overshadows Intriguing Huanghai-Renhe Clash
Qingdao Huanghai 0
Beijing Renhe 0
Attendance: 22,691
Aside from the Dalian Yifang-Shenzhen clash, the round’s other big match-up pitted Qingdao Huanghai against Beijing Renhe in what proved to be a largely intriguing match, despite the 0-0 scoreline. With Renhe happy to counter-attack and Huanghai turning their possession passing game up to the max, it was a classic match formula played out in high quality by China League One standards. Huanghai were the better side overall, but Renhe played their part in a match which resembled a very low budget version of Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid.
Unfortunately, instead of being on a decent football match between two good sides, all the post-match focus was on referee Guo Hao who allowed Renhe midfielder Chen Jie to stay on the field, despite handing him his second booking in the 88th minute. Guo’s difficult afternoon started in the 35th minute when he failed to give Huanghai a penalty after goalkeeper Zhang Lie ploughed into Bari Mamatil without getting near the airborne ball. In the 56th minute, Guo then booked Chen Jie and and Dorde Rakic during a penalty area tussle during a corner, before giving Chen his second yellow for a late tackle on Mamatil.
Chen looked resigned to his fate as Guo took the red from his pocket, but things took a strange turn when Renhe players surrounded the referee and apparently convinced him that their teammate hadn’t been booked earlier. It seems as though that was corraborated by the fourth official, allowing Chen to play out the rest of the game, but the CFA’s official suspension list for the next round has the Renhe midfielder listed as having a one game ban after picking up two yellow cards.
The incident came less than an hour before the CFA announced a seven game ban for Dalian Yifang’s Zhu Ting who was guilty of aggressively spitting on the ground just before his post-match handshake with the officials at the end of last week’s match with Shijiazhuang Ever Bright. Zhu does have a bad rap sheet of past misdemeanors, but the rationale for his harsh punishment seemed to be that matchday officials must be respected. Of course, that sentiment is correct, but when mistakes like this are made, it is little wonder players become frustrated with the men who used to be in black.
As well as this debacle, round 8 featured Wang Dalong only getting a yellow card mentioned above, a bizarre triple sending off in Zhejiang and at least three very questionable penalty awards. Going on about referees and the CFA can be pretty tedious, which is why this article generally refrains from doing so, but what happened in Qingdao and elsewhere this week, illustrates that, at best, some officials lack basic standards of competence which is to the direct detriment of the game.
Meizhou Ride Their Luck to Score Big Win Over Shenxin
Meizhou Hakka 2
Ouyang Xue 4′, Chen Jianlong 45+2
Shanghai Shenxin 1
Ji Jun 90+3
Attendance: 5,565
Shanghai Shenxin lost their undefeated record in Meizhou this week, in what should go down as an upset despite Hakka’s generally strong home record. Shenxin’s bright start to the season has been counterbalanced by Meizhou’s poor one, which saw them sack manager Vjekoslav Lokica after just six games. This is Meizhou’s second win of the season, and could help them turn things around, but we shouldn’t read too much in to what was ultimately a very fortunate victory.
The opener came after just four minutes when Shenxin goalkeeper Guo Wei made a rare mistake by passing the ball directly to Ouyang Xue who was easily able to fire it into the net. The second came in first half stoppage time when Chen Jianlong’s overhit cross lobbed Guo and nestled into the far corner of the net. On the balance of play, Shenxin deserved to at least be level at the half, and they suffered a further setback after the interval when Brazilian attacker Cleiton Silva was stretchered off with a hamstring injury. Shenxin kept knocking at the door, but Meizhou centre back Gibril Sankoh was like a one man gatekeeper and the visitors were only able to break it down when Ji Jun headed home in the 93rd minute. It was too little, too late for Shenxin but, if it doesn’t have too much of psychological effect, this could prove to be a minor setback in what is shaping up to be a promising season.
Yiteng’s Controversial Victory Shows They are Starting to Feel at Home Ahead of Zhejiang Derby
Zhejiang Yiteng 3
Guto 4′ (pen), Castelen 65′, Piao Taoyu 78′
Hohhot Zhongyou 0
Attendance: 3,956
Zhejiang Yiteng picked up their fourth home victory in five matches with a tainted 3-0 triumph over Nei Mongol Zhongyou. Things got ugly early in this one as referee Jin Jingyuan awarded Zhejiang a mysterious fourth minute penalty at the end of goal line scramble. The melee was triggered when Hao Qiang’s shot struck the underside of the bar and appeared to cross the line before a follow up also led to an appeal that it had gone in as Zhongyou players, including Dori, who lay prone on the line, tried to hack clear. When the referee blew his whistle, it initially appeared as though he had given a goal, until it became clear he was pointing to the penalty spot.
Quite what the penalty was given for is a bit of a mystery, with the best guess being a possible Dori handball (though the official may also have been reverting back to the rules of childhood park football where a disputed goal would often be settled by a penalty). Guto converted from the spot, and things went from bad to worse for the referee at the end of the first half when the play acting antics of the perennially despicable Hao Qiang caused mayhem.
We’ve highlighted Hao’s theartrics in the past and this time he went to ground as Dori tried to pull him back during an argument over his heavy tackle. Apparently aware of the centre back’s past, both Yin Lu and Quan Lei steamed in to express their displeasure at the still grounded Hao, with the latter seeming to kick out at him. After the players were pulled apart, the referee flashed red cards at Quan, Yin and Hao, meaning that the rest of the game would be played out with just 19 men on the field.
Despite his protests, Quan was bang to rights and may be looking at a long ban, but it’s really unclear why Yin and Hao were given their marching orders – although there’s a strong argument to say that the playacting of the latter could only be stamped out by the issuing of red cards and long bans.
Early in the second half, the referee seemed to be evening things up by giving a penalty to Zhongyou following a Malik Mane dive. Dori missed the ensuing spot kick and, despite Zhongyou putting in a solid effort, they were overstretched allowing Romeo Castelen and Piao Taoyu to run up the score.
The win was not without controversy, but it means that Yiteng have now taken 13 points from five home games this season and is the perfect preparation for their first ever Zhejiang derby with Hangzhou Greentown next week. Last year was Yiteng’s season in the province after relocating from Harbin and they struggled to settle by being the League One team in 2016 whose home record was worse than their away one. This year it’s a different story, though, and, given Yiteng’s penchant for winding up the opposition, next week’s keenly anticipated match in Shaoxing should be a feisty affair.