In the climax of the 26th round of the Chinese Super League, which ended at nightfall on September 23rd in Beijing time zone, Shanghai Harbour Team, who had been in the lead, unexpectedly lost to Chengdu Rongcheng by a score of 1-2, despite a numerical advantage at one point during the game. The Seaports have now been decimated in both home and away matches this season.
As the tournament came to a close, agitated Harbour fans went into a frenzy of hot debate in the comments section of the war report posted on the club's official blog, expressing great dissatisfaction with the team's performance.
In the eyes of many fans, Coach Javier became the main culprit for the harbor's defeat. Calls for his dismissal rose in the comments section: "Replace Javier quickly, any Chinese coach is better than him. A solid championship": "Javier and Xu Xin had better go together"; "This head coach is simply an asshole!"
At the same time, there were fans who sharply criticized the whole team: "Is this still the top-ranked team? It's a disgrace": "Playing at a good level, but winning the title is a disgrace! Simply a weak team": "After Oscar leaves, we'll be a bunch of jerks next season": "What a disgrace, there's nothing more to say about the club, we have to completely rebuild the squad or it'll just be a dead end next season."
After suffering a double loss to Chengdu Rongcheng, the point gap between Seaport and Shandong Taishan is only 8 points, with 4 rounds of the league remaining. Seaport had to face Guoan and Taishan directly, and their originally solid league title position faced an unprecedented challenge. If Seaport loses the title despite the obvious lead, coupled with the humiliating loss in the AFC Champions League playoffs against a mid-tier Thai Super League team, Seaport will undoubtedly become the biggest laughing stock of the Chinese Super League this season.
