On December 13, Beijing time, a high-profile match in the AFC Champions League kicked off, with the Taishan team playing against the Yokohama Mariners. Previously, Taishan FC was firmly at the top of the group with 12 points, while Yokohama Mariner and Incheon United were tied for second place in the group with 9 points, while Kaya had already lost all five games and exited early. It can be seen that the competition in this group is extremely fierce, the group stage has been tense until the final round, the promotion places have not been decided, and the three teams have hopes of qualifying. Although Taishan led by 12 points, they did not guarantee qualification as they would be eliminated if they conceded more than four goals in the final round against Yokohama Marino.
In order to advance, they must win, or at least draw, and even if they lose, they cannot concede too many goals. After the start of the game, the Taishan team was completely suppressed by the opponent in the first half, with only 30% possession and only a handful of shots on goal. They have been firmly pressed by their opponents in their own half, while Yokohama Mariner have repeatedly threatened the goal of Shandong Taishan. Fortunately, Wang Dalei's brave performance, in addition to the low ball possession rate, the Taishan team also committed a lot of fouls, and even received a few yellow cards, which shows that their game state is very passive.
In the first half of stoppage time, the Taishan team conceded again, the Yokohama Mariner team took advantage of the counterattack opportunity, the two Brazilian foreign aides carried out exquisite cooperation, broke through Wang Dalei's defense, this goal is very beautiful, not only got rid of the two Taishan team defenders, but also deceived Wang Dalei to shoot the ball into the dead corner, Yokohama Mariner led the Taishan team 1-0, and the score was maintained until the end of the first half. At the beginning of the second half, the Tarzan team woke up, no longer blindly defending like in the first half, and they chose to strengthen the tackle in the midfield, but the bad news came one after another.
In the 56th minute of the game, the Yokohama Mariner once again showed superb cooperation, this time the attack was like the style of Barcelona, and the three players near the Taishan team made 4 passes, and finally sent the ball directly into the goal of the Taishan team, and the king of the goal was powerless. I have to admit that the strength of the Yokohama sailors is indeed very strong. The Tarzans had a great chance to counter-attack in the 63rd minute, but the players rushed to attack and ultimately conceded a goal. Then, Yokohama Mariners seized the opportunity to advance quickly, and the Brazilian foreign player scored directly in the face of Wang Dalei to make the score 3-0. The Tarzan team fell into a passive situation, and if they conceded another goal, they would likely be eliminated from the competition.
The situation of the Tarzan team is very unfavorable, and the fans sweat for them. Both sides then attacked, but neither was able to find the back of the net. Although the Tarzans eventually lost 3-0, the goal difference advantage allowed them to join the Yokohama Marins in qualifying, although they dropped from first to second in the group. In this way, the two giants of China and Japan teamed up to eliminate the South Korean giants Incheon United, making all three teams have 12 points, and the goal difference ranking has become the key.