Guillaume Dah Zadi scored a hat trick on Saturday to help the
ambitious Changchun Yatai rally to overcome Henan Jianye 3-1 in a
Chinese Football Super League match.
The victory also saw the dark horse replace defending champions
Shandong Luneng as the leader of the table with 26 points.
The Changchun side, whose hope of returning to the top spot was
threatened by injuries to core players, strived to control from the
midfield as soon as the game began.
But they suffered a big setback in the 19th minute as Lu Feng
slotted his own deflected shot into the open goal to put the
visiting Henan team, who are currently struggling at 14th in the
15-team league and have scored only four goals in 11 games this
season, in the lead.
The home side went on the attack in search of an equalizer,
however openings in their defense meant the team risked conceding
more.
The swift Lu Feng threatened Changchun again in the 39th minute.
The striker burst into the box and drove the ball past the rival’s
keeper from close range, but the shot was denied by the post.
The unimpressive home players finally found their form after
changes were made in the lineup during halftime.
Dah Zadi equalized just three minutes into the second half after
latching onto a pass and beating the offside trap.
The Henan side had to play with 10 men for the rest of the game
after defender Jin Zijie was sent off in the 76th minute for a
second yellow card offense.
The sending-off forced Henan to concentrate on defense, however
this proved insufficient when dealing with Dah Zadi. The Cote
d'Ivoire international scored again to make it 2-1 in the 78th
minute before completing his hat-trick during extra time.
In other matches, Zhejiang Lucheng rallied to beat the mighty
Dalian Shide 3-1 with consecutive goals from Rong Yu in the second
half, while Beijing Guo’an lost to Tianjin Kangshifu 1-0.
(CRI June 18, 2007)