Rumi Reporter reports that Taishan beat Shenhua 2-0 in the early round to take sole possession of the lead with three points. They also beat Shandong Guoan 2-0 by the same scoreline to move alongside Taishan at the top of the table in all three cities.
Guoan has been in hot form recently, undefeated for eight consecutive rounds, and has won three consecutive matches. "Guoan team strength is extraordinary, today's battle, we must strive for excellence in order to win." Before the match, three town coach Pedro confidence. Looking back to the first round, three town to 5-1 thrashed Guoan, Xie Feng eclipsed. But Pedro believes that game was not one-sided, "Guoan also created a lot of threats."
Pedro said the league is long and he is proud of the results as a promoted team, "At the beginning of the season, I told them to treat every game as a final and give it their all, which they did. Next, all we have to do is play the remaining games."
Despite Malcolm's expired suspension, Pedro kept him under wraps, and the starting lineup was the same as the previous round. Compared to the first round, both teams were in good form, and Guoan had returned to the top. At the beginning of the game, the three towns players quickly got into the state, and launched an intense press. Guoan was strong in the front field, but the defense was a little weak.
The midfield was fiercely contested, with both sides fighting for every inch of ground. Guoan's third midfield consisted of Zhang Xizhe, Ji Zhongguo and Gao Tianyi, which was quite distinctive. Pedro played with Stancho, He Chao and Xie Pengfei, and strengthened the defense all round, making Guoan's midfield poor ball movement and slowing down the attacking rhythm.
On the offensive end, despite the absence of big hitter Malcolm, the threat of Davidson, Stanchou and Edmilson, as well as Xie Pengfei, remained unabated. Stanchou, due to his defensive duties, was actually taken on by Davidson, who frequently retreated from the midfield, as the initiator from defense to offense. Edmilson ran aggressively in front of the field to limit the national defense. In addition, Sanzhen has many connection points in front of the field, and the bottom of the side space is open. In the first half of extra time, Sanzhen shifted to the left, Housen slipped in front of the goal, and Deng Hanwen scored an empty goal with an assist from Xie Pengfei.
Throughout the first half, both teams' possession was basically equal, but in terms of shots and passes, San Zhen was slightly better. In terms of statistics, there was not much difference between the two teams, especially in terms of shots, Guoan strengthened their offense in the second half and only had two less shots on goal than San Zhen, but unfortunately failed to seize the opportunity. In the second half extra time, Davidson broke through the box and was brought down by Park Young, and Edmilson scored a penalty. In the end, San Zhen won 2-0 and continued to match Taishan.
This was a great matchup between Tri-Town and State, and Tri-Town held up to the pressure.
"Across the board, Guiao didn't have many threatening chances." Pedro said, "In the second half, they frantically counterattacked in an attempt to press us, but our defense kept them at bay." He also expressed his satisfaction with the team's offense, "The players ran aggressively and worked well together to create numerous goal-scoring opportunities."
National manager Stanley admitted that his team is not as good as Three Town, "They are very good in both attack and defense, it's a lot of pressure on us and it's really different playing against them."
Pedro said that in addition to the technical and tactical, he wants to build a resilient team "to face any opponent, to be brave and to play well little by little, and they are doing a good job of that."
After defeating their opponents 4-1 in the previous round, Tarzan and Tri-Town also won 2-0 in this round. Both sides bit the bullet and were unwilling to make a mistake and fall behind.
In the next round, Taishan will face Hebei with a win in doubt, while Sanzhen will have to face a strong Henan. on November 18th, the two sides will face each other in the second round at Sanzhen's home ground.
