In the July 27th matchup, the Guangzhou Super League saw a fierce battle in Guangzhou, which beat Shandong Taishan 2-1 with goals from midfielder Yang Liyu and foreign aid player Eckerson, temporarily leading the league standings. The victory not only ended Taishan's undefeated season, but also allowed Guangzhou to take revenge for their first loss of the season against their rivals.
Looking back at the first meeting between the two teams at the beginning of the season, Taishan won 1-0 thanks to Fellaini's fatal strike, and has been occupying the top spot in Guangzhou ever since. Despite Guangzhou's subsequent two consecutive wins, the team's overall performance has not lived up to expectations. Especially after the return of Talisca and Paulinho, outsiders are not optimistic about Guangzhou's prospects this season.
However, Guangzhou showed excellent defense and attacking ability in this game. Yang Liyu's goal was thanks to Yan Dinghao's precise pass, while the tacit understanding between Gaolat and Yang Liyu also revealed Cannavaro's tactical layout. In addition, Taishan's weakness in overhead defense was exploited by Ackerson's header goal in the second half, which eventually helped Guangzhou seal the win.
After the resumption, Guangzhou came back to life with a 343 formation, which created more attacking chances in the game and allowed the duo of Yang Liyu and Ekerson to score. Since the resumption of the Chinese Super League in July, Guangzhou has participated in a total of five matches, and except for the bye match in the draw with Henan Songshan Longmen and this match, the rest of the matches have all scored at least three goals, with an average of three goals per match.
Prior to this game, Guangzhou and Shenzhen were tied with 15 points, ranking second in the division by only a small margin. The Shenzhen team won the match against Qingdao and tied Taishan with the same number of points. If Guangzhou couldn't win, it would be possible to fall to the third place. But in the end, Guangzhou won 2-1 in a battle for the top spot worth "6 points", tying with Taishan and Shenzhen, and temporarily topping the zone by a small margin.
