Nantong Zhiyun's title as Seaport's Friendship Army didn't stop a tragedy from unfolding. 1-8, Nantong Zhiyun lost a pair of bottoms and firmly held the vice-chairman's position. Nantong Zhiyun's entry into China A seemed unstoppable, just as Seaport's defense of their title was unstoppable. As a Shandong fan, Seaport is 8-1 with 14 straight wins. Whether Taishan can maintain their impressive record depends on Shanghai Shenhua's performance.
After the game, Coach Harbor said:Victory is not given to us by others. This statement is cruel but true. Look at Harbor's stats this season. At the end of the league, they have scored 72 goals. This number far exceeds the 30 rounds of total goals they scored when they won the title last season (61 goals), and also exceeds the 30 rounds of total goals Guangzhou Evergrande scored when they won the title in the 2019 season before the epidemic (68 goals). After beating Qingdao Hainiu 5-0 in the previous round with minimum spending, Harbour won 13 games in a row. Compared to the former Shandong Luneng and Guangzhou Evergrande, perhaps driven by the pride of setting a winning streak record, Seaport played against their friends.
However, in 2006 Shandong Luneng set two records, one was 13 consecutive wins and the other was topping the table six rounds ahead of schedule. Now seeing that the record of 13 consecutive wins has been rewritten by Harbor, the remaining suspense is whether the six-round early championship can be broken. Of course, this depends on two things. First, Harbour's own performance is not a problem at the moment. Harbour is in good form, with basically more than five goals scored by underdogs, and their attacking power is superb. Secondly, it depends on the competitors. With Beijing Guoan Shandong Taishan already behind and Chengdu Rongcheng not stable enough, Hong Kong team's only competitor stays in the same city as the applicant team.
The Seaports are currently in first place with 57 points from 18 wins and 3 draws in 21 matches, and the most goals in the Chinese Super League with 72. Shanghai Shenhua follows with 52 points from 16 wins and 4 draws in 20 matches, conceding only 8 goals in 20 matches, the fewest in the Chinese Super League. It's not hard to realize that Shanghai's two heroes, one is the sharpest spear and the other is the strongest shield. And both teams are undefeated from the start of the tournament, with terrible stability of their own. With 9 rounds left in the league (10 more for Shenhua), the title is not in doubt between the two Shanghai heroes. Even a direct match between these two teams would decide the title. The biggest suspense at the moment is breaking.
Kicked 0-6 by Shenhua and ended up relying on Shanghai Shenhua. Taishan, say hello to what?
