Slumping Shanghai fails to break Beijing jinx
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, March 25, 2014
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Zhang Xizhe's penalty opened the scoring for Beijing. |
Beijing Guo'an raced to the top of the Chinese Super League table with an easy 2-0 home win over Shanghai Greenland Shenhua yesterday. Shenhua has not beaten Guo'an in Beijing since 2009.
Beijing has 9 points after three rounds, while Shenhua is 10th in the 16-team league.
Zhang Chengdong won a penalty for the home side after he was tripped inside the box in the 40th minute. Midfielder Zhang Xizhe stepped up and scored past Shenhua goalkeeper Geng Xiaofeng.
Beijing's Nigerian striker Peter Utaka then found the net four minutes into second half, only to be ruled offside. But Beijing struck again in the 53rd minute.
Utaka's attempt from inside the box was blocked by the Shenhua keeper but the ball fell into the path of Argentine Pablo Batalla who made no mistake.
Shanghai East Asia and Guizhou Renhe are second and third, respectively, with seven points each. Guangzhou Evergrande is next with six points. The defending champion lost 1-3 at home to Changchun Yatai on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Shanghai owner Greenland Group said it will put "Shenhua" back into the club's name at the end of the year.
The club was registered as Shanghai Greenland Football Club after Greenland took it over before the start of this season.
The change in club name and emblem had irked fans.
Wu Xiaohui, club chairman and deputy executive president of the Greenland Group, said the name "Shenhua" will be back when the club registers for next season.
"We will first make sure that the historical problems left by the previous owners do not affect the new club. With CFA's permission, we will add Shenhua back to the club's name at the end of the year," Wu told fans. He said the Greenland Group was sympathetic to the fans and retained SFC on the emblem and the club's colors.
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