This week the pod reviews a couple of high-drama CFA cup semi finals, and looks forwards to the prospect of a high-stakes Shenhua – Shandong final. How impressed are we by Shenhua’s mid-season resurgence, and does Li Xiaopeng get enough credit for the progress his Shandong side are making? There’s plenty of time to prepare for the final – we talk through the scheduling issues along with just why so few clubs take the early rounds seriously before the cup bursts into life from the quarter finals onwards.
We then follow-up on last week’s discussion of where it went wrong for Roger Schmidt and Beijing Guoan, and what this means for the short-term future of Guoan and their new coach. Job security and the risks and benefits of CSL management – along with the relative stability enjoyed by Vitor Pereira at the reigning champions – all come under scrutiny.
Steve hosts the Chinese Football Podcast, having joined the WEF team as correspondent for Shanghai Shenhua, the side he has followed since moving to Shanghai in 2010.
Exiled from the Victorian town-centre idyll of Feethams along with his childhood football team, Steve spent many an (un)happy year on Hongkou's North Terrace along with the Shenhua Element Crew and Blue Devils before relocating to Sydney from where he continues to follow the Chinese game from afar.
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