Our team ReUnited was the clear favorite for the match against Shentong Metro FC. A victory would not just help to secure the third position in the table but would also ensure that our players would gain additional confidence for the Hebiguchi cup final against the very same team.

The game in Waigaoqiao started slow and didn’t show a clear predominant team for the first 25 min even though ReUnited controlled the situation for most of the first half. But in the beginning we were not able to convert our ball possession into results. The offside trap of Shentong worked very well and were madden our fast wingers Adam Kling and Alex Pozhar time and again.

Then something absurd happened when the referee decided for a free kick against a Shentong player. Unsatisfied with the decision he took the ball and from a short distance throw it right in the face of the referee. This action, which of course led to a red card, was not only completely unnecessary but also out of all reason after a fair game until this point of time.

Only minutes after the shock, Niklas, who was playing striker for the first half an hour, converted a ball from Luismi with a clever and well placed shot resulting into a 1-0 at half time.

The second half started energetic with a lot of chances for our team. At this time the team of Shentong was not able to get back in the game. Still, it took 15 min into the second half until we raised the score to 2-0. A goal typical for the performance of Shentong that day – after Steve got tackled in the box the referee decided for penalty. As Sebastian Kuehn went for the penalty the Shentong goalie decided to lean against the post to watch the happenings instead of trying to catch the ball. After some confusion Sebastian didn’t say no and shot the ball in the empty goal. An unbelievable situation at a time in the game where there was only one goal difference.

The following course of the game felt more like a training then a real challenge. Shentong didn’t participate much in the game anymore so Niklas, Mandela, Steve and Lusimi raised the score to its final result of 6-0. ReUnited created a lot of goalscoring chances in the second half and played nice football without getting much resistance from a surrendered Chinese team. In the end the high result was well deserved.

Some messy actions took place ten minutes before the final whistle after Dennis committed a rather harmless foul and substitutes as well as the coach of Shentong came running on the pitch protesting loudly. Unfortunately a lot of scenes from Shentong’s side during the game had very little to do with sportsmanship. We hope for a more fair game in the upcoming cup final which will certainly be more challenging then this league game.