New transfer rules double-edged sword for Chinese clubs
Friday, 20th February 2009 ~ Cameron ~ Link ~ Comments (1)
A flurry of transfer activity has taken place among China's top football clubs in the past couple of weeks, with a host of intriguing personnel changes being made in time to compete in this year's newly expanded Asian Champions League (ACL). A new "3+1" rule introduced by the Asian Football Confederation has in effect launched a regional transfer market for Asia. The edict allows clubs to field three players from non-AFC countries, plus one more from another country belonging to the AFC, meaning more talent will move within Asia rather than outside of it.With the first ACL games set to kick off on March 10, and the Chinese Super League (CSL) to begin shortly afterward, Chinese clubs have been busy taking advantage of the new rule--with the biggest signings inked by China's four teams that qualified for the 2009 ACL season--Shandong Luneng, Shanghai Shenhua, Beijing Guoan and Tianjin Teda.
Australian Mark Milligan recently signed with Shanghai Shenhua
Shanghai Shenhua raised eyebrows by signing Australian international defender Mark Milligan from Sydney FC. Australian commentators are upset that a promising A-League player has left to take part in a competition many believe is inferior. Whilst there is no doubt that the A-League is more professionally run and has more integrity than its Chinese counterpart, results in last years ACL between Chinese and Australian clubs suggest playing standards to be roughly equal.
Nevertheless, Shenhua owner Zhu Jun, one of China's richest men, must have really splashed the RMB on this deal, as Milligan had been trialling with top teams in Europe. The Shanghai club has made three other very strong-looking signings, raiding Belorussian side FC MTZ-RIPO to sign 25-year-old Belorussian international forward Vyacheslav Hleb, and Bulgarian defender Yanko Valkanov. Not content with that, Shenhua also picked up striker Hernán Barcos from Argentinian side Racing Club. This means Shenhua have a very strong four non-Chinese players for next season.
Fellow ACL participants Tianjin Teda have signed Gilligan's teammate Mark Bridge on a four month loan. They have also snapped up journeyman French midfielder, Jean-Phillipe Caillet, currently playing for Genk in Belgium. Beijing Guoan have also been busy preparing for their campaign, signing Australian cap Ryan_Griffiths from Liaoning (which were relegated from the CSL last season, and ironically winners of the old Asian Club Championship in 1990), and his brother Joel Griffiths, on loan from the Newcastle Jets of the A-League. Beijing also signed Croatian midfielder Darko Matić from Tianjin Teda, and Cameroonian defender William Paul Modibo from Portuguese side Gil Vicente.
So it would appear the 3+1 rule is working in China's favour for the time being. Indeed Goal.com wonder why Asia did not implement such a rule sooner.
However recent developments elsewhere in the transfer system may not always be positive for Chinese clubs. Leaving Asia is China's Zhou Haibin, who has caused a bit of a stir by becoming China's first "Bosman" transfer. He leaves Shandong Luneng for top Dutch side PSV Eindhoven after his contract with the reigning Chinese champions expired. Shandong tried to block Zhou leaving as Chinese clubs hold on to players registration for 30 months after their contracts expire. But an agreement between the two clubs was reached on a Bosman basis-- named after the Belgian footballer whose landmark case in 1995 allowed all European Union players to move freely between clubs once their contracts expired. The implications of this deal are yet to fully emerge but are being hotly debated.
Tags: A-League, Asian Champions League, CSL, football, football transfers, shanghai shenhua, Tianjin Teda
Shenhua hand Chinese football championship to Shandong in closing minutes
Thursday, 4th December 2008 ~ Cameron ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Just one victory in their last five games and a shocking penalty miss saw Shanghai Shenhua hand the Chinese Super League title on a plate to rivals Shandong Luneng on the final day of the 2008 season on Sunday afternoon. (video highlights)Shandong started the day two points ahead of Shenhua in the table, and were expected to beat mid-table Guangzhou at home to wrap up the title. Shenhua knew that a victory against local rivals Zhejiang Lvcheng, combined with Shandong failing to win their match, would see them snatch the title on goal difference. So with an air of tension, all games in the final round of the season kicked off simultaneously at 3.30pm, to avoid the potential for match-fixing allegations to arise if teams already knew the results of other games affecting their final standing.
Thanks to Kylie Minogue, Shenhua were playing at the soulless Yuanshen Athletics Stadium in Pudong instead of their spiritual home, Hongkou. An air of tension filled the air, as home fans had one ear on how events were unfolding elsewhere – news of a goal in Shandong's match against Guangzhou would surely poop the party. Just to add even more spice to the already flavorsome mix, it was also a local derby for Shenhua as their opponents, Zhejiang Lvcheng, are based just down the road in Hangzhou. Ominously, since their promotion to the CSL last year, all the previous three league games between Shenhua and LvCheng had been drawn.
Shenhua started positively and indeed spent much of the first half camped in their opponents box. It was no surprise when Paraguyan striker Justo Rolando Meza put the home side in front after 10 minutes with a well-taken header. Shenhua continued to push forward, only for Zhejiang to equalize after a rather fortuitous break of the ball fell to Algerian striker Karim Benounes who slotted home neatly to send the sizable away support behind the goal into raptures.
Somewhat perturbed, The Blue Devils, Shenhua's largest fan group, then took advantage of their opponents being the only other team in the league to come from a city speaking a similar dialect to their own, by abusing the visiting fans in Shanghainese. An angry chanted chorus "Lvcheng Dui, gang lu Dui!" (Greentown team, stupid cock team!" This drew amusement from the rest of the derby match crowd.
Encouraged by news that Shandong were being held 0-0, Shenhua pushed forward again. Chance after chance went begging, before Cheng Liang finally put the Blues in front again on the stroke of time with another header. Half-time, 2-1 to Shenhua, and critically, Shandong were still drawing 0-0 with Guangzhou. The stands buzzed with excitement at half time – Shenhua were 45 minutes away from their third league title.
The second half followed the first half closely. Shenhua controlled the game and wasted numerous chances. On around the 65 minute mark, a blatant handball resulted in a penalty to Shenhua and the chance to put the result beyond doubt. The anticipation was electric as Hamilton Ricard stepped up to take the penalty. The crowd waited with baited breath and bit their nails. Zhejiang's players looked on knowing the game was as good as over if it went in. All eyes in the stadium focused on the ball as it was placed on the spot. With the score still tied at Shandong, the stakes couldn't be higher. Ricard stepped up….
And fired his shot right at the Zhejiang keeper.
The crowd could scarcely believe Shenhua had scored yet another chance to make the game safe. And it was inevitable when Zhejiang equalized with just 15 minutes to go, the product of some rather slack defending at the back. Shenhua huffed and puffed for the remainder of the game, and young striker Gao Lin spurned a great chance when he elected to dummy the ball rather than shoot; his attempt to wrong-foot the visitors defence failed as there was no team-mate there to take advantage. Try as they might, Shenhua could not find a winner. And with that… the title slipped through their grasp. Final whistle – Shenhua 2-2 Zhejiang Lvcheng – and, cruelly, Shandong 0-0 Guangzhou. In other words, had Shenhua won, the title was theirs and the whole season essentially turned on Ricard's missed penalty.
If the game itself was not hard enough to swallow, the run-in made things even worse. Shenhua had their chances to at least go into the final game in pole position. But they won just one of their last five games, and even contrived to throw away a four goal lead in their match relegated Liaoning two weeks ago, who scored four times in the last 30 minutes to draw 4-4. A 0-0 draw to fallen giants Dalian last week did Shenhua no favours either – it was a game Shenhua were expected to win, Dalian only just avoiding relegation this year.
Shenhua have the consolation of joining Shandong, Beijing Guo'an and Tianjin Teda in next seasons revamped Asian Champions League. But that was scant consolation for the fans, some of whom found the disappointment all too much. Xiao Tan, a 26-year-old Blue Devils member, told China Sports Today, "I cried today. At least if we had won, and Shandong won, it would have been better. But not like this. And that penalty miss… good heavens. I have no idea."
Shenhua's reputation for being bottlers and under-achievers is, it has to be said, well-deserved. Former coach Wu Jingui told the Shanghai Daily, "Shenhua takes the lead but doesn't know how to keep it. It has been a problem for the team for years," adding, "The team tends to make mistakes at critical moments."
Shandong overtake Shenhua in the all-time championship table to claim their third title, on the back of wins in 1999 and 2006. A new season awaits Shenhua however and the team can take comfort from some very encouraging performances of attacking football. If they can carry this form into next year, they will once again be among the front runners.
Next season's CSL will offer more derby action to Shenhua – Jiangsu Shuntian of Nanjing return to the top league after an absence of 15 years. The 2009 season will kick off next March.
Picture of Hamilton Ricard courtesy of Sina Sports
Tags: CSL, football, Shanghai Shenhua, soccer, sports, yuanshen stadium
Four-way battle for CSL 2008 run-in
Thursday, 30th October 2008 ~ Cameron ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Shenhua players celebrate their 3-2 comeback against Guangzhou
Certainly, anything is possible in the last six games to decide the destiny of the championship. To illustrate this, the past two weeks saw form side Shenhua overhaul Shandong's six-point lead to currently sit one point ahead of the 2006 champions. They achieved this by beating Shandong at home 3-2, and Guangzhou by the same score line on Sunday night, despite being two goals down after 35 minutes.
Shenhua's third victory was a more hollow one, a 3-0 win against Wuhan awarded by default following the Hubei side's decision to withdraw from the league in protest against an eight-game suspension handed out to blockbuster signing from Shenhua, defender Li Wei Feng. All of Wuhan's previous results this season have been nullified and a 3-0 victory awarded to all opponents. Fortunately, of the games Wuhan played before their expulsion, they had lost all against the top three so the standings were unaffected.
The form table says it all. Shandong have taken just nine points from their last six games, whereas Shenhua have won five and drawn one of their last six fixtures. Early season pace setters, and very much underdogs Shaanxi Zhongxin, have ten points out of a possible 18 from their last six, but they remain very much in contention. Shenhua currently sit top on 51 points, Shandong just one point behind, and Shaanxi on 48 points. Tianjin Teda, on 44 points, are in with an outside chance if they can replicate Shenhua's recent spurt to the top, but it seems unlikely. In a rather unfortunate metaphor, considering the CSL's scandal-hit history, your correspondent's money is split between Shenhua and Shandong for the title.
This weekend sees Shaanxi host Shenhua--which is surely a must-win game for the Xi'an-based side. Don't forget Shaanxi used to be called Inter Shanghai before changing name and relocating west in 2006 so that will add spice to the occasion. There is also the small matter of Xi'an being one of China's footballing hot beds in terms of large and vociferous supports – check out this clip of them burning a Beijing Guoan team jersey after a game. They have done far worse in the past. Shandong host 12-placed Changsha in a game which they are expected to win. There will be many twists and turns on the pitch before the end of the season, and let's hope no more off-field mishaps distract from what should be an exciting climax to the season.
Tags: Chinese Football, CSL, CSL 2008, Shaanxi Guoli, Shaanxi Zhongxin, Shandong Luneng, shanghai shenhua
Match report: Shanghai Shenhua v Dalian Shide
Monday, 14th July 2008 ~ Cameron ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
For Dalian are a team in decline. With only one league title in the last five years, the north-eastern side were nowhere near the championship last season or the year before. And this season, they currently languish 13th in the 16-team CSL (Chinese Soccer League). Indeed, this fact was not lost on the Shenhua fans, who gleefully taunted the small band of Dalian travelling fans with chants of Dalian dui jiang ji! (Dalian team, get relegated!) and Dalian dui sha bi le ba, Xian Zai hou hui lai bu ji le ba (Dalian team, now realise you are stupid c*nts, but its too late you find this out )
The game itself was worthy of such terrace banter. Dalian got off to a solid start and looked the more promising team in the opening stages. However Shenhua broke the deadlock on 20 minutes when Chen Liang headed in from a corner to send the home fans wild. The celebrations had barely ceased when Jiang Kun added another, scoring an absolute topper of a goal 60 seconds after the restart. The ball was squared to him at pace from the right and he hit a first time shot from about 25 yards out which screamed into the top corner, leaving the Dalian keeper without a chance in hell. Dalian were on the ropes already and they never recovered from these two sucker punches for the rest of the match.
Proceedings remained very entertaining however and an audacious long range overhead kick from Costa Rican striker Erik Scott hit the post and went out. The action was flowing thick and fast by this point with Shenhua uncharacteristically appearing to forget they were two goals ahead.
Following half time, Dalian were beginning to look like they were running out of ideas. Scott again went close, waiting for the ball to come down at the edge of the box before hitting a clean shot but was denied by a great save from the Dalian keeper. Honduran Emil Martinez really should have scored when fellow central American Scott threaded a ball to him into the penalty box, but the goalie pulled of a great close-range save to keep the score at two-nil. However it was no surprise when Shenhua added a third on the 58th minute following a bit of a goalmouth scramble. The ball was played in from a corner and headed onto the bar, and amidst flailing limbs, the ball fell to defender Du Wei at the edge of the six yard box and he knocked it to finish Dalian off.
From then on the game was completely over as a contest and the pace dropped off rather abruptly. The steamy, humid Saturday night had also taken its tool on the spectators and the players as everyone just went through the motions during the closing stages. Dalian grabbed a late and somewhat undeserved consolation goal right at the death, but by then the Shenhua faithful were in great voice: 3-1 against the once-mighty Dalian was quite a result. Check out the match highlights - and don't miss Jiang Kun's fantastic second goal.
Shenhua have now won seven of their eight home games this season and results elsewhere this weekend see them sit third in the table just three points off leaders Shaanxi Barong. A combination of a break for the Olympics and their next games being on the road mean that Shenhua do not play their next home game until September 28.
Photo courtesy of Ryan Pollack
Tags: Dalian Shide, football, hongkou stadium, Shanghai Shenhua, soccer