Football | Scolari leads Guangzhou to 7th Chinese title in a row

Luiz Felipe Scolari

World Cup winning coach Luiz Felipe Scolari led Guangzhou Evergrande to a seventh successive Chinese Super League title yesterday with a 5-1 win over Guizhou Zhicheng at Tianhe Stadium.

With closest challenger Shanghai SIPG losing 2-1 at home to Guangzhou R&F, Evergrande is now nine points clear at the top of the 16-team league with two games remaining.

Scolari, appointed in 2015, announced earlier this month that he will leave China when his contract expires on Nov. 30. The Brazilian has led Guangzhou to three domestic titles as well as the Asian Champions League in 2015. Scolari led Brazil to its last World Cup title in 2002.

Gao Lin opened the scoring after 15 minutes and Alan Junior extended Guangzhou’s lead a short time later. Guizhou pulled a goal back before the break but Du Wei, Yu Hanchao and Muriqui completed the win to seal the title.

Shanghai, which spent more than USD100 million on Brazilian stars Hulk and Oscar in 2016, has seen its season fizzle out. Eliminated from the Asian Champions League semifinal in midweek by Urawa Reds of Japan, a first domestic title will also now have to wait.

Guangzhou R&F took a 2-0 lead and while Hulk pulled a goal back to make amends for a first-half penalty miss, Shanghai, led by former Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur coach Andre Villas-Boas, was unable to get the win it needed to keep its faint title hopes alive.

At the other end of the standings, Fabio Capello led Jiangsu Suning to safety despite losing 3-1 at Changchun. The Italian was appointed by the struggling Nanjing team in June. John Duerden, AP