A triumphant start, Taishan sweeps away the gloom! Will the Beijing-Shandong clash continue last year's frenzy?

Report by Chen Yong A 3-0 complete victory lifted the Shandong Taishan team out of the shadow of their preseason friendly defeat, and heightened expectations for the upcoming Beijing-Shandong clash this weekend. High spirits and sharp counterattacks were the keys to Taishan's win in the Liaoning-Shandong match, and these will undoubtedly carry over to the Beijing-Shandong battle. Additionally, 30,519 fans witnessed the Liaoning-Shandong match and created a great home atmosphere; next round's clash with Super Cup champion Beijing Guoan will surely see an even more frenzied atmosphere at Taishan's home ground.

In this Liaoning-Shandong match, Taishan's challenge was unfamiliarity with Liaoning Iron Man, a newly promoted CSL team. Although they retained three foreign players from last season, their two new signings this season are valuable, especially forward Refinio, valued at 4.5 million euros, the highest-priced foreign player in the CSL. Thus, Taishan's lineup remained stable: a three-center-back formation, with six local players alongside five foreign players all being seasoned or current national team members. Peng Xiao, who performed well in the U23 Asian Cup, was temporarily on the bench. Taishan's basic tactic was to defend from midfield to the back line.

Taishan's first goal of the season was a classic counterattack: Liaoning Iron Man's attacking error, left center-back Gao Zhunyi passed to left wing-back Liu Yang, Liu Yang passed to left winger Kazaishvili, who broke through from midfield to near the box and passed to center forward Ze Ka in the middle, Ze Ka laid it off to Kazaishvili, who tapped it to the right side, right wing-back Xie Weneng, rushing forward quickly, pushed a shot into the far corner. This goal took only 13 seconds from Gao Zhunyi's pass to Xie Weneng's shot, during which Xie Weneng sprinted about 60 meters in roughly 9 seconds.

This goal occurred in the 8th minute. An early lead allowed Taishan to settle more comfortably into their counterattacking rhythm: Taishan's second goal, though a penalty created from positional play, preceded by a low-level passing error by Liaoning in their own half; Taishan's third goal, though from a corner, came after a midfield interception by Taishan. In fact, Taishan had several other good counterattack opportunities in this match but unfortunately couldn't capitalize. Before halftime, Taishan's possession rate was only 31.4%, and their full-match possession rate was just 35.1%.

In this match, the entire Taishan team performed excellently. Cresan was as formidable as ever, new foreign center-back Alvaro's debut won fans' approval, Gao Zhunyi even fought until injured and substituted, leaving a deeper impression. Particularly impressive were the two wing-backs Xie Weneng and Liu Yang, who constantly shuttled between both penalty areas throughout the match. After scoring, Xie Weneng celebrated with a gesture mimicking Nezha with hands in pockets, which actually best depicted his performance: he seemed to have wind-fire wheels under his feet, defending back to assist against Refinio, attacking forward to the front line; besides the goal, he also hit the post with a shot.

In this season's Super Cup, Beijing Guoan defeated Shanghai Port 2-0 to win the championship, their tactics refreshed, making Guoan fans exclaim they saw a different Guoan. In the last match of CSL's first round on the 8th evening, Beijing Guoan away easily beat Wuhan Three Towns 2-0. This match saw Beijing Guoan with 67.8% possession, 16 shots, showing good match control ability.

For the second round's Beijing-Shandong clash, one side is Beijing Guoan, who won both consecutive matches and kept clean sheets in both, plus clinched a championship title; the other side is Shandong Taishan, fully recovered in form with extremely sharp counterattacks. Such a Beijing-Shandong clash naturally deserves more anticipation from fans and media.

The history of Beijing-Shandong clashes is well-known, almost every match full of stories. The 2025 season was especially unique, unusually featuring two matches where the home team won by large margins: CSL Round 8 2025, Shandong Taishan in poor form lost 6-1 away to Beijing Guoan; by Round 23, home Shandong Taishan performed extremely strongly, winning 6-0.

From fans' perspective, naturally both sides' fans hope their team defeats the opponent by a large margin. But for more CSL fans, for the league's quality and excitement, a more intense match is what they hope to see. Given both teams' current situation, morale and form are very good, thus we believe the new season's Beijing-Shandong clash will likely be fiercely contested and undoubtedly the biggest highlight of CSL's second round.

For this Beijing-Shandong clash, considering too many fans attending live and the situation in Taishan's first round where some fans entered after match start, fans need to travel early to ensure not missing even a second of the match.