On May 20, Beijing time, Henan played against Dalian Ren in the eighth round of Chinese Super League. In the first half, Wang Shangyuan was injured and Kovic broke the deadlock for Henan; in the second half, both teams had few chances. In the end, Henan beat Dalian 1-0, leaving the relegation zone while winning for the first time this season, while Dalian was undefeated for 7 rounds.
Henan, with four draws and three losses in the first seven rounds, is the only team yet to win, while Dalian is in the bottom four with one win, three draws and three losses. The two teams have met 14 times in the Chinese Super League, with Henan winning 2, drawing 6 and losing 6. In their last three encounters, Henan won 2 and drew 1, while Dalian have gone unbeaten for 6 rounds.
In the second minute, Wang Shangyuan collided with Luo Xin while returning to the defense and was stepped on his ankle by Gu Cao, fortunately, after examination, Wang had no serious problems.
In the 16th minute, Lin Liangming steered an attack from the left. Huang Jiahui worked with his teammates at the front of the box. Finally, the shot inside the box hit the bottom line of Henan's defender.
In the 18th minute, Gu Cao made a mistake on defense as Manzocchi took the ball in the box and swung the defense away, and his final shot was blocked again.
In the 22nd minute, the Dalianese passed the ball from the right road, Henan's defenders made a mistake in clearing the ball directly to Mamba, who shot in the air.
In the 31st minute, Henan inverted a triangle pass from the left, Feng Boyuan took the ball and turned and exploded, hitting a Dalian defender off the line.
In the 38th minute, Dalian People went straight ahead and Lin Liangming took the ball offside into the penalty area and ended up shooting from a small angle, which was blocked by Wang Ming.
In the 44th minute, Henan patiently organized an attack in front of the field, and finally a pass from the left road to the goal fell right in front of Kovic, who scored a header to break the deadlock, 1-0.
In the 51st minute, Kovic distributed the ball to Huang Zichang, who made a backward pass to Feng Boyuan, who inserted a low shot, which was pounced by Wu Wei limit.
In the 53rd minute, the Dalianese defense misplaced a pass and Feng Boyuan flicked the ball to Huang Zichang, whose small-angle shot was confiscated by Wu Wei.
In the 57th minute, Bosanjic crossed from the right, Manzocchi made a chest stop for Tesonev, who fired a low shot straight at him, but it grazed the post and went off the line.
In the 75th minute, Henan got a free kick on the right side of the front field, Ke Zhao chose to shoot directly but sent the ball away.
Neither team scored the rest of the way as Henan held a 1-0 lead until the end.
Henan starting lineup: 19 - Wang Guoming, 4 - Luo Xin, 5 - Gu Cao, 11 - Ke Zhao, 24 - Li Songyi, 6 - Wang Shangyuan (28 mins 16 - Diliyimiti), 17 - Thomas Pina, 8 - Huang Zichang, 9 - Feng Boyuan, 20 - Kovic (49 - yellow 76 mins 14 - Gao Tianyi), 29 - Zhong Yihao
Dalianjin starting lineup: 30-Wu Fu, 2-Lin Longchang, 4-Laurez, 18-Ho Yupeng, 10-Tsonev (81 mins. 28-Feyu), 14-Huang Jiahui (46 mins. 40-Bosanjic), 19-Wang Zhen'ao (68 mins. 8-Zhu Ting), 31-Lv Peng (83 mins. 33-Song Zhiwei), 7-Lin Liangming, 11-Mamba (80 mins. 39-Yan Xianggong) , 17-Manzocchi
