Before the war, Qingdao West Coast had accumulated 54 points and was in second place, while Shijiazhuang Kung Fu was in fourth place with 49 points. Given that Nanjing City and Guangxi Pingguo were basically out of the title race with a 0-0 handshake, if Qingdao West Coast could beat Shijiazhuang Kungfu, they would be able to make a comeback two rounds ahead of schedule. In this crucial battle, every point on the sports field is precious, and even the referee has been upgraded to international referee Wang Di.
However, Shijiazhuang Kung Fu head coach Zhou Lin missed the marquee match due to a red card suspension. His assistant, An Qi, stood on the sidelines and took command in his place. In the showdown, double foreigners Ogbu and Ayovi made their debuts, with goalkeeper Sui Weijie captaining the side. Nan Xiaoheng, An Yi Fei, Zhu Haiwei, Ding Haifeng, Zhang Chenliang, Pan Kui, Huang Wei and You Wenjie shared the starting lineup.
On the bench, there are also players on standby such as Venisio, Song Hoyu, Jia Xiaochen, Sun Le, Zhang Hao and Bu Xin.
Qingdao West Coast head coach Jankovic adjusted his starting lineup with Ramirez's injury, arranging for Lanier and Wesley to partner with the outside backs, veteran Tian Yong to continue as captain, goalkeeper Chen Zhao in goal, and Ge Zhen, Zhang Xiuwei, Chen Bailiang, Lei Wenjie, Sun Jie, Feng Gang, and He Xiaoqiang to join him on the pitch.
On the bench, players such as Huang Jiaqiang, Xue Mengtao, Li Kai, Time, and Buerdanjiang are ready to come on as substitutes.
At the beginning of the match, Shijiazhuang Kung Fu launched a fierce attack on Qingdao West Coast with the home field advantage. However, Qingdao West Coast's solid defense made it difficult for the opponent's attack to break through. After Ramirez's injury, Qingdao West Coast's offense was a bit weak, and the two sides played 0-0 in the first half.
In the second half, Qingdao West Coast resisted Shijiazhuang Kung Fu's attack and also used counter-attacks to create threats. In the 65th minute, Zhang Xiuwei had a great chance to shoot, but it was magically parried away by Shijiazhuang goalkeeper Sui Weijie.
As the game progressed, everyone thought that the game would end 0-0, but there was a dramatic twist in the extra time: Qingdao West Coast took a series of shots on goal, and substitute Abu seized the opportunity to score with a heavy shot; then, in the last moments of the extra time, Shijiazhuang Kungfu's Zhang Chenliang flashed the equalizer! This goal lasted only 1 minute, but made Qingdao West Coast's joy of overtaking disappear instantly. This is the charm of soccer!
In the end, Qingdao West Coast accumulated 55 points and remained in second place; Shijiazhuang Kung Fu accumulated 50 points and overtook Nanjing City to move up to third place. For now, the overtaking suspense will continue until the next round.
The next round of matches will be played at 14:00 on Saturday, October 28th. Shijiazhuang Kung Fu will challenge the promotion horse Dandong Tengyue on the road; Qingdao West Coast will face Guangzhou on the road. If Qingdao West Coast can win in this match, the suspense of the Super League will be revealed one round earlier.
