Beijing time on the evening of July 21, the 18th round of the 2023 season of the Chinese Super League kicked off, last night took the lead in three matches. After a fierce battle, Shanghai Port beat Cangzhou Lions at home 3: 0, Nantong Zhiyun drew Henan Songshan 1: 1 on the road, and Tianjin Jinmen Tigers drew Shenzhen 3: 3 at home.
Two weeks ago, Shanghai was drawn at home by Dalian Ren. After that, they quickly stopped their slump and adjusted to it. After beating Shenzhen on the road in the last round, they started their winning streak again. Returning home to face Cangzhou Lions last night, who were undefeated for 4 rounds, Shanghai still maintained their good form and started the game with a fierce attack. Less than a minute into the game, Shanghai played a wonderful match on the right side of the field and bought a wonderful pass from Jiang. Lu Wenjun entered the penalty area from a small angle and successfully pushed the ball. Shanghai got a good start 1:0. In the 23rd minute, Wang Shenchao and Buy Jiang played together on the right side of the front field, Wu Lei had a great chance in the penalty area, but he grabbed a hammer, which was bravely parried by goalkeeper Shao Puliang, and then the super close-range supplementary shot was blocked. In the first half, Shanghai had a free-kick opportunity on the right side of the box, and Oscar went slightly wide of the post after rounding the wall.
The change of sides against Shanghai continued to strengthen the attack, just started, in the 47th minute, Shanghai's left side attack, Li Shuai 45 degrees diagonal door, Wu Lei got a good chance for the second time, his chest ball, and then turned to defend the ball into the net, Shanghai 2:0 lead. Two minutes later, Wu Lei had a great chance in the penalty area, but his superb one-touch push from close range was bravely blocked by Shao Pu Liang. Three more minutes later, Wu Lei had his fourth chance, but his powerful shot from the penalty spot went wide of the post. In the 63rd minute, Wu Lei had his fifth good chance. However, his one-touch shot in front of the penalty area was again parried by Shao Pu-liang, and only one goal was scored from five good chances. Wu Lei wasted many chances. After that, both sides wasted another one-two. Oscar was close to a one-two punch and Karon's one-two burst was parried by the brave Shao Pu-liang. In the 79th minute, Shanghai launched an attack with a long pass from the backfield. Shao Pu-liang missed this time. After Caron scored from a man-down ball, he made an empty net to seal Shanghai's 3:0 win.
The previous four consecutive losses of Henan Songshan last night back to Zhengzhou Navigation Stadium, hosting the bottom three promotion horse Nantong Zhiyun, this is a good opportunity for Henan to stop the decline. Only 11 minutes after the start, Henan offensive end really seized the opportunity, Huang Zichang left front of the penalty area to the edge of the ball, Berto received the ball to adjust two steps right foot vigorously forward, the ball is a bit of a god, a total of 45 people in the penalty area failed to touch the ball, the ball directly into the far corner of the goal, Henan Songshan 1: 0 made a good start. From there, Henan's offense completely overwhelmed Nantong Jiyun, but they didn't seize the opportunity to extend the score. Kovic's super-close header hammer was parried by goalkeeper Shi Xiaodong; Kovic's header made it to Shuniqi's overhead kick, which was blocked by the goal post... Wasted chances of Henan Songshan suffered a heavy blow in the 71st minute, Nantong Zhiyun launched an attack from the left side, and Romario also came with a seemingly passable shot. One of Boss's shots was blocked by the far post and Castillo grabbed the second drop. : 1 Equalizer. In the final stage, Chen Keqiang and Kovic still had chances, but they were both parried by Shi Xiaodong. In the end, Henan Songshan could not rewrite the scoreline and were forced to draw at home by Nantong Zhiyun. Although they had stopped their four-game losing streak, they only got one point, which made the home fans very angry. After the match, a large number of angry fans shouted for Sarko's dismissal.
In the standings, Shanghai Port will once again widen the gap with second-place Shenhua after winning three consecutive matches in the first leg, temporarily topping the table with nine points. Henan Songshan has only 1 point in 5 rounds of matches or only 2 points more than Nantong Zhiyun and 4 points more than Dalian in the relegation zone. If it is still hard to win, the pressure of relegation will be very high. Cangzhou Lions are still 3 points ahead of Wuhan Sanzhen in the 10th place after their disastrous loss.
Lennardo continues to lead the scorer's list with 13 goals. If Wu Lei can capitalize on more chances, he could catch up. He only has five great chances and only one goal, and the gap between the two goals is still second. Kovic also wasted a couple chances last night. If he hadn't scored, he'd still be fourth behind Mushiqui. Castillo caught up with Claessan after scoring late on, with Malele and the others only in the top ten.
