Observing the scenes on the field, Shanghai Jiading Huilong indeed demonstrated the elegance of fair play. From once being behind to successfully equalizing the score, they played soccer with all their might and posed a great challenge to the home team. If not for Dalian Yingbo's crucial goal in the last minute of injury time, the game might have ended in a draw. Such a draw is definitely good news for Guangzhou, because once Guangzhou finally beat Nanjing City, they will be promoted to the Chinese Super League instead of Dalian Yingbo.
Just when the passion of Evergrande's fans hadn't fully subsided, Shanghai Jiading Huilong's change of strategy was staggering. In the 60th minute, the visitors couldn't wait to replace two players at once. One of them was foreign striker Evans Eddy (pictured above), who was replaced by 18-year-old winger Li Xi'nan. Common sense would dictate that the team had just tied the game and was in good shape. Unless someone was injured or suffering from cramps, a massive substitution seemed unnecessary in this situation. I am deeply confused!
Shanghai Jiading Huilong started the match with three foreigners and the number of foreigners on the field remained two. In the 78th minute, the visitors got another chance to change players. In the 83rd minute, they changed two players again, and another foreign striker, Magno, was also replaced (see picture above). This meant that Dominic, the last foreigner on the pitch, was about to leave the field. At this point, the score was still 1-1, and if Guangzhou had taken the lead, there would have been no way back for Dalian Yingbo.
After removing two foreign strikers in a row, Shanghai Jiading Huilong's offense was obviously weak, and the last 10 minutes almost turned into an offensive drill for the home team. Under the continuous offense, the weakness of the visiting team was gradually exposed. In the 91st minute, Zhu Pengyu seized the opportunity in the penalty area and leapt up to send the ball into the opponent's goal with precision, helping Dalian Yingbo to achieve the victory and a successful comeback.
Then look at the Canton team against NJ. The players were distracted and underperformed. Not only did they fail to win, but they were reversed by the home team and declared a failure to overtake! Emotionally speaking, Shanghai Jiading Huilong was not obliged to sacrifice for Guangzhou. After all, they have the right to make substitutions after a goal. It can only be said that Guangzhou finally lost to themselves, having missed many good opportunities before. Three consecutive draws made them lose the initiative to overtake. No wonder people have such a view.
