On October 4, Beijing time, Wuhan Sanzhen played against POSCO on the road in a Group J match of the AFC Champions League. Although Aziz scored the first goal in Wuhan Sanzhen, Pohang Steelers finally won 3-1, which was Wuhan Sanzhen's first loss in AFC Champions League. Not only did Wuhan Three Town lose in this match, but red-hot international Xie Pengfei was given a straight red card for a dangerous shank. All kinds of blows have put Wuhan Sanzhen's exit situation in jeopardy.
Just like in the opening game of the last round of the AFC Champions League against Urawa Red Diamonds, Wuhan Sanzhen took the lead early on, with Aziz, who has been in good form lately, scoring first. However, after Aziz's goal, POSCO quickly equalized, just as they led twice and were equalized twice when they played Urawa. In the second half, POSCO opened the scoring twice by Zekame to beat Wuhan Sanzhen 3-1.
The turning point of the game came in the 40th minute. POSCO foreigner Obertan fell to the ground in pain after passing the ball. From the slow-motion replay, he was shoveled from the side and back of his body by Xie Pengfei, who kicked Obertan's foot right on his ankle without kicking the ball. Initially, the referee showed Xie Pengfei a yellow card, but after a VAR video alert, the referee penalized Xie Pengfei with a straight red card. Just like that, Wuhan Three Town always played one man short in the next 50 minutes. This also set the stage for the final defeat.
Looking at the situation, Xie Pengfei's foul was undoubtedly quite stupid. After all, Obertan was not in the danger zone at the time, and Wuhan Sanzhen's defenders were already standing in front of him. All Xie Pengfei needed to do was to interfere with him in time to make sure he couldn't play the ball comfortably. Even if he had committed a foul, he wouldn't have gotten a red card. It can be said that "stealing a chicken does not make you lose rice". Xie Pengfei's hot-headedness ultimately cost Wuhan Sanzhen dearly.
After losing this match, Wuhan 3 Town only got 1 point in the first two rounds of AFC Champions League group stage, behind Pohang Steelers (6 points) and Urawa Red Diamonds (4 points). Although this underdog team Hanoi FC is at the bottom of the table, it is still unknown whether Wuhan Sanzhen can catch up with Urawa and Pohang even if they play two games against Hanoi. From this perspective, it's really unfortunate that Wuhan Sanzhen didn't take down Urawa Red Diamonds even though they were ahead twice.
