It's an 11-point lead with 11 rounds left! Shanghai Port is racing to the finish line at a pace that is unstoppable by their Chinese Super League rivals, leading the league in a way that is becoming more and more like Guangzhou Evergrande, the former eight-time Chinese Super League champions. Following this pattern, it's not far from the birth of another Chinese Super League juggernaut. It's no exaggeration to say that the media has a "prophecy".
Speaking about Shanghai's victory, media personality Miao Yuan took to his personal social media platforms to argue that the Super League champion for the next few years should be Shanghai Hong Kong (pictured below). He wrote: "Early awards, the benefits of the aforementioned Hong Kong, should be the champions in the coming years as long as they are not evil."
This is not bad! Shanghai is unique in the Chinese Super League in terms of first place investment, first place paper strength, first place wages and first place value. In addition, Shanghai does not owe wages, logistics protection is first-class, the players have fewer injuries, which is an advantage envied by many Chinese Super League teams.
Currently, the only team in the Chinese Super League that can restrain Shanghai is Shandong Taishan. Unfortunately, this year has been an eventful year for Shandong Taishan. There were too many holes dug in the first half. When Cui Kangxi arrived, he filled the holes one by one. Looking around, Shanghai has long since disappeared in front. Not only Shandong Taishan, but other opponents of the Shanghai Championship also encountered their own difficulties.
As you can see, it's hard not to win the championship with the unique scenery on the Shanghai side, not to mention the fact that they're united this year!
After beating Shenhua 5-0 in the "Shanghai Derby", Shanghai won the Chinese Super League title this season with less than two-thirds of the matches running. The other competitors are far behind. Shanghai have 11 points more than second-placed Shenhua, and one more point is the difference between four Super League victories. Given that there are only 11 rounds left in the Super League, that 11-point lead amounts to an insurmountable barrier at the front of the Super League.
However, this may not be the biggest gap! Everything indicates that Shanghai's points will probably continue to expand in the remaining 11 rounds of matches. With no hope of catching up, many teams may "give up the struggle" and send in their substitutes early, leaving their energy to play against other teams.
This led to other teams grabbing points from each other and dropping points to each other. On the contrary, Shanghai kept a lone win or 10 wins and 1 draw in these 11 rounds. So the gap between the second place and Shanghai is getting bigger and bigger.
The lead is so large that an early award would not be out of line. What's even more frustrating for the other title rivals is that if Shanghai maintains this investment, it's like "contracting" the Chinese Super League title for the next few years in advance. As long as you keep Oscar, Shanghai will win.
Oscar's contract will end at the end of 2024. If you win another title in 2024, you might extend his contract for a year or two and win three or four titles in a row. If the game springs up, even if Oscar ends up leaving and going to Europe's top five leagues to poach some good foreigners, Shanghai, which isn't short of money, isn't worried about not having a title when their opponents are short of money.
For example, Shanghai recently brought in a new foreigner, Lucas Joao. Being so far ahead by so many points and so strong is still strengthening. It's like the best student in the class who always gets first place and studies harder than you do. How can other Chinese Super League teams compete? I can't fight!
What is the concept of Shanghai being 11 points ahead?In 2013, Guangzhou Evergrande won their third consecutive title, scoring 18 points more than second-placed Shandong Luneng (below), which equates to a six-game victory gap. Evergrande won three rounds early (actually Evergrande played one round less, so should have won four rounds early).
Whether it's three or four rounds in advance, Shanghai is likely to break Evergrande's record this year! This year, Shanghai is likely to break Evergrande's record. 2013, Lippi came to Evergrande and created the "Evergrande Dynasty". Now, the "Evergrande Dynasty" has withered. Who will be the new Chinese Super League champions? Shanghai and Hong Kong are responsible for the "Harbor Dynasty" ready and waiting to begin....
