Just A Report: JDT Vs. Shandong Luneng

Credit: AFC Champions League

It was another loss that surely show Johor Darul Takzim (JDT) out of the door following a slim 1-0 defeat to Chinese side, Shandong Luneng.

JDT though played a much changed side with a few fringe players while Safawi Rasid and Gonzalo Cabrera dropped to the bench, as they have one eye on their crucial league clash against Pahang this Sunday. However, they fared better in the first half compared to the reverse fixture. Shandong took a while to get it going and JDT nearly took advantage of that on the 11th minute.

Diogo Luis Santo was able to fend off Liu Yang and made a beeline to the box, but perhaps took the shot too early since he still had space to run into and as a result, dragged his low effort wide.

Only four minutes later, Syamer Kutty Abba whipped in a free-kick on the left and Aidil Zafuan rose highest, only for his header to just go over the bar. JDT had a good spell in the opening 20 minutes, but saw their work come undone on 22 minutes.

Shandong winger, Jin Jingdao floats in a cross. Song Wenjie miscued his header, but the ball fell nicely for Graziano Pelle for an easy tap-in to give Shandong the lead. Though there were questions whether Pelle was interfering with play in an offside position when Jingdao delivered the cross.

Since the goal, Shandong finally got their act together and started conjuring up attacks. Jingado himself had a chance a few minutes later, but saw his shot comfortably saved by JDT stand-in keeper, Izham Tarmizi. On the 32nd minute, Zhang Chi tried to curl a shot with his weaker left foot that glanced just wide.

Five minutes later, Shandong should’ve doubled their lead. Zhang Chi timed his run to perfection and break through the last defender on the right flank to receive a through pass. He laid a low cross for Song Wenjie who had so much space, only for the forward to use the wrong foot to shoot and saw the ball go wide instead on-target.

In the second half however, there were far less chances compared to the first. However, Pelle really should’ve scored another on two separate occasions. The first one was on the 63rd minute, he jumped highest to head the ball from six yards out, only to see his effort going straight at Izham.

On the second time, it was just before stoppage time. Substitute Zhou Haibin lays a pass for the Italian striker as he unleashed a wicker volley from just inside the box that has Izham beaten, but not the crossbar.

Throughout the entire second half, JDT was coasting without any conviction despite Shandong being there for the taking because they took their foot off the pedal. To show how poor it was, they didn’t get a single shot in the second 45 minutes. There was no repeat of a bright first half display by the home side in the second despite the introduction of Cabrera and Safawi. They now face certain elimination following Gyeongnam FC’s victory over Kashima Antlers earlier by the same scoreline. Although, they still have a mathematical chance to secure runners-up if they beat Kahsima & Gyeongnam and hope Shandong do beat those two teams in the upcoming fixtures.

JDT:

24 Izham Tarmizi

7 Aidil Zafuan

8 Diogo Luis Santo (11 Gonzalo Cabrera, ’57)

14 Hariss Harun

16 Syamer Kutty Abba

19 Akhyar Abdul Rashid (10 Safawi Rasid, ’64)

20 Azrif Nasrulhaq

21 Nazmi Faiz

22 La’vere Corbin-Ong

27 Fadhli Shas

28 Syafiq Ahmad (20 Hazwan Bakri, ’71)

Subs:

1 Farizal Marlias

3 Adam Nor Azlin

4 Afiq Fazail

35 Hasbullah Abu Bakar

Bookings: Diogo (’30)

Shandong Luneng:

20 Han Rongze

4 Gil

6 Wang Tong

9 Graziano Pelle

11 Lu Yang

13 Zhang Chi (18 Zhou Haibin, ’82)

19 Song Wenjie (17 Wu Xinghan, ’60)

22 Hao Junmin

25 Marouane Fellaini

33 Jin Jingdao (5 Zheng Zheng, ’88)

39 Song Long

Subs:

1 Liu Zhenli

7 Cui Peng

21 Liu Binbin

29 Cheng Yuan

Bookings: Wang Tong (’14), Liu Yang (’42)