On the evening of May 20, the 8th round of the 2023 Chinese Super League (CSL) took place as Henan defeated Dalian Ren 1-0, Tianjin Jinmen Tiger shook hands with Shandong Taishan 3-3, and Meizhou Hakka defeated Shanghai Harbor 0-2. So far, the Chinese Super League season has completed a quarter of its schedule, and all the teams and fans have made a general judgment on the performance trend of this season.
With goals from Lv Wenjun and Wu Lei, Shanghai Seaport is gradually becoming the champion after defeating Meizhou Hakka 2-0 on the road, winning 3 consecutive matches and remaining undefeated for 8 rounds, leading the table alone with 20 points. In the next round, Shanghai Seaport will host Henan at 19:35 on May 24th. Originally, Coach Javier would lead the team to turn against their old master, but he left the field with a red color in this round and missed the next live command. I don't know if he deliberately avoided it.
After consecutive 0-2 defeats against Qingdao Hainiu and Shanghai Seaport, Meizhou Hakka still has 8 points and has been ranked 10th from 8th in the previous round.
After a 1-1 handshake with Beijing Guoan in the Beijing-Shanghai battle, Shanghai Shenhua's progress has slowed down and they are now in second place after accumulating 18 points. In the next round, Shanghai Shenhua will challenge third-ranked Chengdu Rongcheng on the road, which is destined to be a fierce battle. In the "Devil's Home" Phoenix Hill, whoever can keep the two teams undefeated will be the biggest highlight.
After getting a point at Beijing Guoan, there have been 5 rounds of undefeated and stayed in the 7th place.
Chengdu Rongcheng's goal battle with Wuhan Sanzhen in this round, a 3-3 draw, 3 straight draws, seems to be back to the start of last season. Although Chengdu Rongcheng has kept undefeated for 8 rounds now, the gap with leading Shanghai Harbor is gradually widening, caught up by Tianjin Jinmen Tiger and Changchun Yatai. Next, they will try their best to compete with Shenhua for 3 points.
In a just-concluded match, Tianjin Jinmen Tigers and Shandong Taishan played an up-and-down game that resulted in a 3-3 handshake between the two teams. The game was informative in terms of the number of goals scored, but hardly satisfying in terms of the quality of play. Especially in the second half, the game broke down intermittently and there were some unpleasant scenes in the final stage. This was related to the poor ability of duty referee Liu Wei to control the game. After the match, Tian Jin Men Hu remained undefeated and continued to rank fifth.
Shandong Taishan got one point and finally ended the tough schedule of five consecutive games. In these five games, they only got 4 points, which is obviously a big failure. However, considering the predicament that Shandong Taishan is facing right now, these 4 points are not easy. In the next round, Shandong Taishan will host Shenzhen at 19:35 on May 24th. This will be a great opportunity for new coach Cui Kangxi to lead his team back to the winning track.
Changchun Yatai suddenly became powerful in this round. With Leonardo's hat-trick and Tan Long's goal, they beat Cangzhou Lions 4-2 on the road and gained 3 valuable points. They scored 14 points and are in fifth place. Next, Changchun Yatai will return home to face promotion rival Qingdao Hainiu. I believe they will try their best to get 3 points.
Qingdao Hainiu took a 2-0 lead over Zhejiang at home. As a result, they accidentally lost Jingzhou. In the second half, Mu Xiekui scored 2 consecutive goals in 3 minutes to equalize the score and missed the first back-to-back wins in the Chinese Super League. Although Qingdao Hainiu is ranked 8th with 8 points after the match, an increase of 3 places from the previous round, the schedule is not friendly to them, considering they will first go on the road to challenge Changchun Yatai, and then come back to their home field to start the "Qilu derby" with Shandong Taishan. All they can do is give their best and fight for every point.
In another game that just ended, Henan beat Dalian Ren by one goal with a header from new foreigner Kovic, finally ushering in their first win of the season. So far, 16 teams in the Chinese Super League have won this season. This also shows that the competition will be very fierce this season. With the valuable 3 points, Henan accumulated 7 points and moved up to the 12th place, escaping the relegation zone for the time being. For Kovic, he will greatly boost his self-confidence after his first goal of the season. It will be a blessing for Henan if he can return to the form of last season's Central League killers. Next, Henan will continue to challenge the Shanghai Bund duo on the road. Will they be able to continue to focus on this round.
In comparison, Dalian Ren still amassed 6 points after the loss, dropping to 14th place, close to the relegation zone. This is undoubtedly a danger signal. It should be noted that Dalian People have been undefeated for 7 consecutive rounds after beating Nantong Zhiyun 2-1 in the first round. In the next round, they will have a 6-point relegation battle with Zhejiang on May 24 at 19:00 at home.
Although Nantong Zhiyun drew with Shenzhen in this round and got 1 point, they still fell to the relegation zone with Henan's victory, which is obviously not good for this promoted horse.
For this reason, the club has decisively placed head coach David as technical director. It remains to be seen whether this adjustment can bring changes in performance. In the next round, Nantong Zhiyun will face the defending champion of Wuhan Sanzhen at home, which is another tough battle.
