On August 5, 1999, at 35 minutes past the Beijing hour, two key matches in the 20th round of the Chinese Super League were played simultaneously. After fighting for 90 minutes, Dalian beat Shanghai Shenhua 2-1 at home, while Cangzhou Lions narrowly beat Shenzhen 1-0 at home.
At the Dalian Sports Center Stadium, Niu Minghui served as the referee while Kim Kyungwon assisted as the VAR referee. Dalian finally saw the light of victory after 18 rounds of misery without a win. The atmosphere of the home stadium injected a strong motivation for Dalian. Meanwhile, many players in the Shenhua team were injured due to flu and Jin Yangyang's mistake. Some fans wryly joked, "If Jin Yangyang is not absent, I am afraid no one will dare to raise chopsticks at the Dalian celebration banquet!" "Jin Yangyang's Dalian bloodline has awakened!" "In my mind, Dalian only has Shenhua!"
In the 23rd minute, Yu Hanchao, Zhang Wei and Manzocchi showed speedy cooperation, but the referee ruled that Zhang Wei was offside and the goal was invalid. In the 25th minute, Yan Xinli was cut off with the ball and Manzocchi scored a header to give Dalian a 1-0 lead. In the 30th minute, Jin Yangyang made a mistake, Manzocchi grabbed the pass and Lin Liangming broke the goal undefended, making the score 2-0, and the bench and the fans on the field were boiling.
In the second half, Manzocchi attempted an overhead shot in the 46th minute. In the 51st minute, Wu Wei's long-distance shot went over the crossbar, and in the 63rd minute, Jin Yangyang's header made the score 1-2. In the 63rd minute, Jin Yangyang's header brought Shenhua back to 1-2. Despite Manzocchi's cramp and Wu Wei's yellow card, Dalian kept their unity and finally won 2-1, ending their 18-round winless streak. The 3 points from this game brought Dalian's total to 15 points, successfully getting out of the relegation zone. Shenhua stayed in third place with 35 points.
On the other side, Cangzhou Lions faced Shenzhen at Cangzhou Stadium. Zhang Lei was the referee and VAR referee He Kai. In the 21st minute, Locadia attempted an overhead kick, but Wang Peng hit the goalkeeper first and the goal was disallowed. In the 39th minute, Zheng Kaimu and Alessandrini were injured. In the 42nd minute, Zhao Hongliu passed the ball and Locadia shot over the goal. At the end of the half, the two teams exchanged whistles.
In the 75th minute, the Cangzhou Lions finally broke the deadlock with a header from inside the penalty area to take a 1-0 lead. In the 85th minute, Tian Ziyi attempted a turnaround shot, but the shot went over the bar. In the 88th minute, Alessandrini's shot went wide. In the 92nd minute, Oscar took a header, but it went over the crossbar. In the end, Cangzhou Lions beat Shenzhen 1-0 and moved up to 27 points and 10th place. Shenzhen, on the other hand, continued their 10-round unbeaten record, but remained at the bottom of the table.
