Shanghai Seaport's journey to the championship was full of ups and downs, from once leading the Chinese Super League by 14 points, to finally winning by only 5 points, the twists and turns in the process are staggering. 29, the summit showdown with Shandong Taishan due to the scene of the conflict and become fragmented. However, for the seaport generals, the 1-1 draw is already a symbol of victory - five years later, once again holding the Chinese Super League trophy Wu Lei covered his face and cried, excitedly said: "This championship than the last time more happy!"
In fact, the preparations for Seaport's title win began long before the final match against Beijing Guoan. Despite being well aware of the power of their opponents, the team was confident of a home victory. The club's staff secretly formulated various strategies against Guoan and explained to the media in advance the interview arrangements after the championship. However, the loss against Guoan brought all expectations to naught.
With a five-point gap, the Super League title was supposed to be within reach for Seaport, but this season Seaport has been out of sorts. Before the key battle against Taishan, no one dares to talk lightly about winning the title. "Before the game, we almost do not read the outside world predictions and comments, and do not pay attention to the last game loss, all the information is blocked." A core defense player confessed, "Being so close to the championship, but we didn't seize the opportunity before, the mentality is naturally different, but before this game, we are still determined to get the victory, and we can't drag the battle to the last round."
However, the match was surprisingly chaotic. In the first 30 minutes, Seaport and Taishan engaged in a fierce confrontation with exciting scenes. Zhang Linwei's breakthrough created a shooting opportunity for Lv Wenjun, giving Harbour a 1-0 lead at home. The goal brought the field to a boil as they could win the title early by keeping the tie. However, after Harbour's goal, the smell of gunpowder on the field intensified. Four minutes before the end of the half, the referee showed four consecutive red cards, and the field was once chaotic. Harbor's 9 men were unhappy with Taishan's 10 men, and head coach Harvey also expressed his dissatisfaction with the referee's punishment.
In the second half, the two teams had very different strategies. Taishan strengthened their attack, while Harbor held on to their half with one less player. Throughout the first 20 minutes of the second half, Taishan pushed all their power into Harbor's half, with goalkeeper Wang Dalei standing near the center circle, looking a bit "lonely". It was a battle of champions, and the smell of gunpowder permeated the entire stadium. 74 minutes, Li Shuai shoveled the ball from behind, and Fernando retaliated in front of the referee by fouling him, and also received a straight red. 9 to 9 situation is rare in the Chinese Super League. Throughout the match, referee Mai Maiti Jiang showed 5 red cards and 10 yellow cards.
After 89 minutes, the fans' stands were ready to celebrate, but Taishan still wouldn't give up their offense. The 1-1 scoreline was made even more suspenseful in the last 7 minutes of extra time after Shi Ke's cross was parried by Xie Wenke. However, his luck was finally on the side of the bumpy harbor with the help of Yan Junling's excellent performance and the goalpost.
Javier, who was sentenced to sit in the stands, frowned the whole time and kept communicating with the field on the phone. Finally, the whistle blew and he was so relieved that he excitedly waved his fist at the highest point of the stands and then rushed all the way down to high-five others. It was his first Chinese Super League title amidst all the skepticism, and the first of his coaching career.
Back in the lounge, Javier enthusiastically expressed his feelings to the players. "Today was the perfect ending. We overcame all the difficulties. We showed everyone that we do our best. We are all fighters! I hope everyone enjoys this championship and the title will come back to Shanghai." He also sent his congratulations to the Chinese and foreign coaching staff and the on-site media with such an excited voice. There was no champagne prepared in the lounge, and the players grabbed sports drinks and sprayed them on him. Javier kept taking it all in with a smile.
Wulei was also emotional. The championship after five years made him emotional. "I feel happier about winning the title this time than last time. We players are much older than five years ago. We really wanted to win this title because the chances were getting fewer and fewer. The fact is that the first half of the season seemed to go well this year, but there were some difficulties in the middle or the second half of the season. In fact, the outside world may not know about a lot of difficulties, so we came out on top in the last key games." Vulet cried on his knees.
Wu Lei had a "direct conversation" with fans on social media, summarizing those imperfect memories. "The fans gave us a lot of support, but there were some misunderstandings and conflicts between us, but we are a family, and a family will have such and such problems, but our hearts will always be together." As the team leader, Xi Zhikang shouted "Long live the fans" at the post-match conference.
After the game, the Harbor players walked around the field with their relatives. Captain Oscar made a point of running under the fans' stands and asking for a fan's flag to wave in the center of the field. Although I didn't talk about what's next for me, Oscar had an emotional night as the hero of another Harbour win. "I've been through so much over the years. I'm glad I stuck it out. I stayed in Shanghai and won another title for the team. I love the team, I love the city."
Tonight, when the song "The First Dream" plays on the field again, "winning the championship" is as exciting as it was five years ago. It's just a season of ups and downs, and there are so many stories, whether it's the ups and downs or the questions, that are worth pondering over in the harbor.
The tears on the night of the championship were a mixture of the joy of winning the title for the second time and the depression caused by the many ups and downs of the second half of the league.
Based on Shanghai Seaport's record before August, their title win should not have been delayed until the penultimate round. At their peak, they were 14 points ahead of Shanghai Shenhua in second place. No one would have suspected then that they would get the title early, the suspense was only a few rounds ahead. However, since losing 3-4 at home to Zhejiang on August 12, Hong Kong have inexplicably put on a strange brake. They were first held to a 1-1 draw at home by Meizhou Hakka, then eliminated 2-3 in the AFC Champions League play-offs with Thai Premier League side Pathum United.
Two wins and three losses in the next five rounds of the league allowed Shandong Taishan to catch up to just five points off the points. They kept putting the brakes on, sending themselves to the penultimate round for Shandong Taishan. Pingtai Shan's win was welcome, but the four league games they lost at the start of August, especially the home match with Beijing Guoan, raised concerns about whether there were problems within this team.
When the team's performance fluctuated, there were also conflicts between player Choi Wai Hong and fans. Cai posted a friend circle of Hong Kong fans turning their backs to "check which light bulb is broken", which greatly hurt the feelings of Hong Kong fans. The incident ended with the club fining Cai Huikang. Head coach Javier is not only known for his results, but also for his frequent extreme behavior on the pitch due to his inability to control his emotions. For example, during the match with Shandong Taishan, Mai Tijiang actually knelt down after being shown a red card after entering the field in protest.
Wu Lei said "the outside world may not know a lot of difficulties" will naturally cause the outside world association. The reason for all this is that the Shanghai Group is also undergoing a change: at the beginning of August, Yan Jun, the president of the Shanghai Group, suddenly resigned from all his positions, and on August 14th, he was officially declared to be "suspected of a serious violation of discipline and the law". Since then, Harbour's record, the team's performance, and even the referees' attitude towards Harbour Club have all been in stark contrast to the past.
Another factor that should affect the harbor's performance was the indictment of Chen Xuyuan, the former chairman of the Chinese Football Association (CFA), at the end of September. The prosecutor's indictment allegation clearly states: "Chen Xuyuan utilized the position of deputy party secretary, president, party secretary, chairman of the board of Shanghai International Harbor (Group) Co., Ltd., head of the preparatory group for the replacement of the CFA, deputy party secretary and chairman of the CFA, as well as the position of power and position of formation of the convenient conditions, to seek benefits for others, and unlawfully accept the property of others.
Two leaders of the Shanghai Group are suspected of corruption, and the final answer as to whether or not the incidents in question are related to soccer and the club needs to be given by the public security authorities. However, this situation in the group will undoubtedly cast a shadow over the future of the Harbour Club. It is well known that since 2014, the Shanghai Group has spent a huge amount of money investing in soccer. Previously there was talk of a 12 billion dollar championship. In these years of the collapse of golden dollar soccer, the high investment in Seaport continues due to Oscar's high salary.
The outside world is also trying to figure out if there has been a change in Shanghai Group's future soccer investments after the accidents of Yan Jun and Chen Xuyuan. Shanghai Group has assigned a new party secretary and general manager Sha Changliang to the club. What is the specific strategy for future investment in soccer? The word inside Shanghai Group is that it depends on the attitude of the municipal government.
