Rivalry Renewed!
Squaring off against Jiangsu FC, just like old times.
Please note that you can find the latest standings and selected statistics on this splash page.
Rivalry Renewed!
Playing Jiangsu Suning FC just feels right. It feels natural at this point, like something that has to happen for the universe to truly be in order.
And, of course, we won. It was 5-0, and it wasn’t close.
Pedrinho was the hero and the Man of the Match, though he didn’t score. His 2 assists and 11 key passes were simply deadly.
Delfi scored two goals, Jacob Dicko Eng had one, and even Eiran Cashin managed to nod a header in.
It was a good day all around. We had over 22,000 people show up at the stadium. If we keep this up, we’ll start selling these games out before long.
Inauspicious Debut
Against the better judgment of my coaches, I decided to play a 17-year-old kid named Liang Xianjun at left back.
Liang Xianjun came in over the summer. We got him on a free transfer from Ningbo Yinbo.
I like him because he’s got a real solid, professional personality, and because he shows a bit of potential. The coaches think he doesn’t have what it takes, but I’m not sure how much I trust their judgment.
Anyway, I had Lee Jin-Yong playing left back at the start of this one. He really should be playing defensive midfielder, and so I moved him up and stuck Liang Xianjun in there at halftime. Well, Mr. Liang decided to try one of those two-footed scissors tackles in the 74th minute, and got himself set off with a straight red card.
The coaches might have been right after all. I’ll keep him on the first team squad for now, but might bring up a different young Chinese left back in January if Liang Xianjun doesn’t play a little bit better. With Joao Victor normally starting in that role, and with our other recent signing, Ronan Pluijmen, on hand, there is a real chance that Liang Xianjun may have played his last first team game for us.
The moral? Don’t get sent off.
Li Qiang
We started another new player in this one.
His name is Li Qiang, and he’s also 17. He’s a striker. I decided to start him in this match because Rovaglia was still recovering from injury. Cheng Binbin has been injured for a while, and another new striker who I haven’t introduced to you yet is out on international duty.
We picked Li Qiang up from Hunan Billows in the summer. He never made an appearance for them. We paid only 300,000 RMB for him, which I think is an excellent deal.
Anyway, he scored yesterday. He had a few attempts from close range that were blocked, and then managed to hammer in one from close range. Not a bad debut!
Wuhan Changjiang
We’re slight favorites against Wuhan, a team that was just relegated this past season from the Chinese Super League.
It’s another home match, our second home match in 4 days. We’ll have a third a few days after that. Squad rotation is crucial during September in this country.
Please note that you can find the latest standings and selected statistics on this splash page.