In tonight's 17th round of the Chinese Super League (CSL), league leaders Wuhan Sanzhen and fourth-from-bottom Cangzhou Lions engaged in a fierce battle.
China Super League (soccer league)
Even though the dominant Wuhan Sanzhen managed to recover two goals and equalize the score despite the shortage of personnel, Cangzhou Lions' star Jose Cante scored a hat-trick late in the game, and Wuhan Sanzhen unfortunately suffered their first defeat of the season.
Wuhan Sanzhen, the promoted team this season, has jumped to become the dazzling dark horse of the league. They brought in many strong reinforcements before the season, including Stanciu and Davidson, this season's Super League champions and the main players of the Romanian national team. In terms of domestic players, they have signed many international players on top of last season's Central League squad, such as Liu Dianzha, Gao Junyi, Deng Hanwen, He Chao and Xie Pengfei. In addition, the team retained last season's players Malcolm and Edmilson.
Such a strong lineup enabled Wuhan Three Town to beat Hebei 4-0 in the first round of the tournament, and in the second round, they bloodied the former league giants Guangzhou 6-0. It wasn't until the third round that they were held to a draw by Shenhua. However, from the fourth round onwards, Sanzhen started their winning streak, and by the time they beat Shenzhen 5-1 at home on August 28th, they had won 12 consecutive matches, and were just one step away from surpassing the Chinese Super League winning streak records held by Shandong Taishan and Guangzhou.
However, injuries are starting to plague the team. They were held to a draw against Shandong Taishan on the road, and won their last match against Changchun Yatai by a score of 2-1, but despite this, they still maintain a 7-point lead. However, it is undeniable that this is the biggest challenge they have encountered since they made it to the Super League. Central midfielder Stancho has missed 4 league games due to national team participation, while Malcom, Edmilson and Wallace have all been affected by injuries. Edmilson is expected to miss two weeks with an ankle injury and Malcom will take longer to recover from a muscle strain.
In tonight's match against Cangzhou Lions, Wuhan Sanzhen only had one foreign player, Davidson, and the team's attacking power dropped significantly compared to the previous 12 consecutive victories, while Cangzhou Lions dominated the game with a hat-trick of goals from Jose Cante. Although Sanzhen equalized once, Kante scored consecutive goals to extend the lead to 3-1, Davidson scored twice from a penalty kick, and Zhang Xiaobin scored a powerful shot in the 84th minute of the game to bring the score to 2-3, but Jose Kante completed the big four in injury time, and Cangzhou Lions killed Wuhan Sanzhen in the last minute.
If Shandong Taishan beat Shenzhen in the game to be played later, Wuhan Sanzhen's lead will be narrowed from 7 points to 4 points. Currently, Sanzhen is facing injuries and if they fail to adjust their form in time, their lead could be further threatened.
