View From Gongti: Beijing Guoan 1-1 Shandong Luneng

Beijing Guoan almost pulled off a memorable victory over defending champions Shandong Luneng, but a late equalizer in Saturday night’s match meant it would only be a 1-1 draw. Beijing’s unbeaten streak improves to 9 matches, but the match felt like a blown opportunity.

In front of a massive Worker’s Stadium crowd of almost 45,000, the Men in Green were the better of the two sides in a very tight first half, but didn’t produce many solid chances. Guoan’s Portuguese manager Jamie Pacheco made a tactical substitution at halftime and it added a spark to his side in the second half. Within minutes, Guoan was on the board when Xu Liang charged to the endline and got off a fine cross that Aussie Joel Griffiths headed past the Shandong keeper.

Guoan could not produce an insurance goal and it came back to bite them in the 89th minute. Just when it looked like fans would be going home happy, Shandong’s Obina executed a beautiful leaping kick in the box, placing his shot just out of keeper Yang Zhi’s reach and giving Shandong a miraculous last minute equalizer.

A disappointing result, but all in all a fine display of football and a tasty appetizer to this weekend’s massive derby against Tianjin Teda.

Read Brandon's full match report at China's premier soccer blog, Wild East Football.