Chengdu Rongcheng led the Chinese Super League by twelve points. They finished the season without the trophy. Four straight defeats, one point from their final five games, and a 3-2 loss to Shandong Taishan on the last day handed the title to Dalian Yingbo, who beat Tianjin Tiger 3-1 at the same time to finish level on 52 points and take it on head-to-head record.
Dalian collected 15 points from their last 15. Chengdu collected one. The two sides met in the penultimate round, Dalian won, and that result turned out to be the tie-breaker that decided everything.
A final day they only had to survive
John Aloisi's team did not need to win. A single point would have made them champions. Instead they were two down inside 25 minutes, Raphael Merkies and Guilherme Madruga both scoring, and although Felipe Silva pulled one back, Cryzan restored Shandong's two-goal lead.
Former Arsenal forward Wellington Silva gave Chengdu hope with eleven minutes remaining. The equaliser never came. By then Dalian, who had gone ahead inside five minutes through Yang Mingrui and been pegged back by a Xadas penalty in the 50th minute, had retaken the lead through Liao Jintao with twenty minutes left. Huang Shan's close-range finish in stoppage time made the title theirs in front of their own supporters.
Where this sits among football's great collapses
Twelve points is a number with history attached. Kevin Keegan's Newcastle gave up a twelve-point lead to Manchester United in 1995-96. United themselves blew the same advantage over Arsenal in 1997-98. What separates Chengdu's version is the shape of the finish: not a slow erosion over months, but a side that stopped winning entirely at the exact moment it only needed to not lose.
Aloisi, the Australian who had spells at Portsmouth and Coventry City as a player, will carry this one for a while. Managers lose titles in all sorts of ways. Very few lose them from twelve clear with the trophy still in their own hands on the final afternoon.
Dalian's side of the story
It is worth saying plainly that Dalian did not win this by accident. Five wins from five to close the season, in a run where every result had to go right, is a sustained piece of work rather than a lucky break. They had to beat the leaders, then beat Tianjin on the last day with the title riding on it, and they did both.
Chengdu will spend the winter replaying five matches. Dalian will spend it with the Li Guozu trophy, which is the only part of any of this that cannot be argued about.
Final-day facts: Shandong Taishan 3-2 Chengdu Rongcheng (Raphael Merkies, Guilherme Madruga, Cryzan; Felipe Silva, Wellington Silva). Dalian Yingbo 3-1 Tianjin Tiger (Yang Mingrui, Liao Jintao, Huang Shan; Xadas pen). Both finished on 52 points, with Dalian champions on head-to-head record after Chengdu lost four in a row and took one point from their last five games.
0 Comments