At 19:30 Beijing time on August 31st, Shanghai Shenhua faced Shandong Taishan at the Jinzhou Stadium in Dalian in a much-anticipated bye in the 12th round of the Chinese Super League (CSL). In the end, Shenhua beat Shandong Taishan 2-1, making Shandong Taishan's 9-game winning streak come to an abrupt end, and with one more game to go, Wuhan Sanzhen is 4 points off the lead, making the prospect of winning the title more and more confusing.
Over the past two months, Wuhan Three Town has maintained its winning streak and is currently on a 12-game winning streak, just one step away from the longest winning streak in the Chinese Super League held by Shandong Taishan and Guangzhou. As the number one rival, Shandong Taishan has been in hot pursuit. Before facing Shenhua, Shandong Taishan had won 9 consecutive matches and was seen as the most promising team to challenge Wuhan's leaders. However, with the other teams trailing by at least 13 points, the title race seems to be out of reach.
Shandong Taishan, who have been showing signs of fatigue lately, suffered a strong counter-attack from Shenhua, a full-time Chinese team, in this match. Although Sun Junhao's long-distance shot helped Shandong Taishan break the deadlock first, Shenhua was missing two striker killers, Basogo and Cao Yunding in the attacking end, but still with Liu Yang's two consecutive penalty kicks missed and Liu Ruofan's sharp counter-attacks, they scored two consecutive goals to complete the reversal in just two minutes.
After this game, Shandong Taishan's 9-game winning streak came to an abrupt end, and with 39 points after 16 rounds, they are still in second place, but 4 points behind Wuhan Sanzhen, who have played one game less.On September 14th, Shandong Taishan will host Wuhan Sanzhen, which is widely regarded as the preview of this season's title fight. Before that, Shandong Taishan will face Shenzhen, while Wuhan Sanzhen will face Yatai and Cangzhou Lions. If both sides win, Shandong Taishan will be seven points behind Wuhan Sanzhen before the two teams meet.
Considering Wuhan Sanzhen's current competitive state and strength, it will be difficult for Shandong Taishan to win. If Shandong Taishan loses to Wuhan Sanzhen, they will be 10 points behind their rivals, and the suspense of the championship completely disappears. If the two teams draw, the gap is still 7 points, and if Shandong Taishan win, the gap will be narrowed to 4 points. Shandong Taishan's offense has relied too much on Kressan this season, but the latter has failed to score in two consecutive games, and the returning Guo Tianyu has failed to repeat his heroics of last year, while the defense has also made a series of mistakes, making it undoubtedly more difficult to defend the title this season.
