Football Tribe Thailand
Played at the empty Yuanshen Sports Centre Stadium, as a precaution against the Coronavirus outbreak, was the AFC Champions League Play-off round between Shanghai SIPG and Thai League runners-up Buriram United.
Leading the line for the home side is former Brazilian international and club captain Hulk, former West Ham United maverick Marko Arnautovic, former Chelsea midfielder Oscar, and winger Lu Wenjun.
Pulling the strings from the base of midfield is Odil Akhmedov. The 32-year-old Uzbek international created the Shanghai’s first real chance of the match when his perfect pass picked out Arnautovic’s peeling run on the edge of the box. Facing away from the Buriram goal, Arnautovic flick the ball on to Oscar. A cheeky nutmeg through defender Pansa Hemviboon and Oscar was free to fire, but unluckily for him, Siwarak Tedsungnoen there to push the danger away.
Bozidar Bandovic fielded his team in a flexible 4-2-3-1 formation which shifted into a 5-3-2 when defending within their own half. The visitors kept Shanghai pretty quiet in the opening 15 minutes and got themselves into decent situations on the counter-attack thanks to the pace and skills of Ricardo Bueno, Suphanat Mueanta and Supachok Sarachart.
Using, 17-year-old boy wonder, Suphanat Mueanta and his big brother Supachok as a central midfielder when defending, with the defensive-minded Jeong Jae-Yong completing the trio, was quite a risk from Bandovic.
Still, credit to the siblings for putting in the hard work. In fact, starting the counter-attack from deeper areas actually allowed Suphanat and Supachok to accelerate their runs – complicating things for the Shanghai defenders. Bueno also managed to draw a few fouls and got the opposition booked but there was little linking with his strike-partner Bernardo Cuesta.
This is only Cuesta and Bueno’s second competitive match together, and it showed that the understanding between is yet to be established.
However, Buriram resilience slowly tailed off – Lu Wenjun won a freekick on the left which Oscar fired into the side netting. The Brazilian also missed another clinical chance when Siwarak cleared his shot from just outside the 6-yard box away.
Shanghai’s dominance continued after the break. Oscar and Hulk, cutting onto their powerful left feet, each had a go from distance but failed to test the Buriram keeper. At this point, Arnautovic was throwing his hands in the air at every pass that didn’t reach him but when the opportunity came, he too, volleyed his shot wide.
With 15 minutes remaining, Shanghai found their opener when 2 substitutes combined – Chen Binbin putting in a delicious curler from the left flank, Li Shenglong connecting at the far post.
Shanghai killed Buriram off in the extra-time, as Jae-Yong lost possession outside Shanghai’s box, and in a blink of an eye, the ball went from Hulk to Oscar and then to Arnautovic for the finish. Seconds later, Oscar won a penalty from a frustrated Siwarak, stood up, and converted it himself.
Shanghai were the deserved winners, even though they weren’t at their absolute best. Akhmedov’s vision and Oscar’s pure class was more than enough to upset Buriram’s balance. As for the Thunder Castle, missing out on continental football is a massive letdown, and their stoppage-time collapse is not a good look. Bueno and Cuesta are obviously quality players, they just haven’t gelled together yet – and who knows when or if they’ll come good.