Beijing time on October 25, the third round of the group stage of the AFC Champions League, all three Chinese Super League teams won. Wuhan Sanzhen won 2-1 against Hanoi, Zhejiang won 2-0 against Kofu Fenlin, and Shandong Taishan won 2-0 against Incheon United. Currently, Shandong Taishan is ranked 1st in Group G with 6 points, Zhejiang is ranked 4th in Group H with 3 points, and Wuhan Sanzhen is ranked 3rd in Group J with 4 points.
After the match, media personality He Xiaolong commented that both Shandong and Zhejiang teams won the AFC Champions League today (Zhejiang actually beat a Japanese second division team). He noted that this keeps China's hopes of making it out of the tournament alive, and that this year's AFC Champions League situation can be considered good as long as one team makes it out of the tournament.
In any case, the AFC Champions League is far superior to the Chinese Super League, hence the utter contempt expressed for the Chinese Super League leaders, Hong Kong. They were easily eliminated by Baton Rouge in the qualifying round. Don't think Baton Rouge is strong, this team has now lost three times in a row in the group stage, and also lost at home to Malaysian team Johor, which is simply the fish out of water.
At the beginning of the season, Shandong and Zhejiang teams got off to a rocky start because of player departures that triggered a panic situation. Wuhan Three Town also lacked the morale of the defending champions due to investor problems. Despite all the negatives, these three teams are of a much higher caliber than SIPG.
I've said for a long time that if SIPG win the title, it will be the least impressive national championship in Chinese soccer history. To re-emphasize, they are the most lackadaisical championship team in history.
