Fighting the harbor again, can the Jinmen Tiger fight this time?

Reporter Lu Mi reports Although Kiles opened the scoring for Tianjin Jinmen Tigers in the opening 19 minutes, Kalanga's goal near the end of the game still allowed Jinmen Tigers to miss three points. In two consecutive away games, the Jinmen Tigers drew with Qingdao West Coast and Dalian InBev, and counting the 2-2 home game against Beijing Guoan, Yu Genwei's team has now drawn three times in a row in the Chinese Super League. After six rounds, the Jinmen Tigers are still unbeaten and on Wednesday they will welcome their nemesis from the past few seasons, Shanghai Port. However, this time, the Jinmen Tiger can be described as "pressure and opportunity".

In this journey of playing two away games in a row, Jinmen Tiger suffered from injuries, and the successive injuries of Salvador, Ademi and Yang Fan made the team have to deal with the remnants in the game against Dalian InBev. Thankfully, Keles continued his red-hot form and scored his seventh league goal. At present, there are still 6 teams in the Chinese Super League that have not surpassed Keles in total goals.

After returning from Dalian, Tianjin Jinmen Tigers will start preparing for this Wednesday's home game against Shanghai Port. With the match between Harbour and Henan postponed due to weather conditions, and Tianjin midfielder Huang Jiahui and central defender Rose were suspended for a yellow card against Dalian InBev, this battle against the reigning champions of the Chinese Super League seems to be getting more and more difficult.

In the past few seasons, Tianjin Jinmen Tigers have been almost defenseless against Shanghai Port. In the 2024 season, the two-legged league plus the FA Cup, the Jinmen Tigers lost all three games against Harbour, with an overall score of 0-11. In the past four years, the two teams have met a total of 10 times, and the Jinmen Tigers have only won one and drawn two, and lost the remaining seven games, including two five-goal defeats. In these ten encounters, the Jinmen Tigers have only scored three goals in total.

Of course, in the past few years, Shanghai Port has strong foreign aid such as Oscar and Vargas, and its strength is significantly higher than that of Tianjin Jinmen Tigers, and it is reasonable for them to achieve an overwhelming advantage in the results of both sides. However, the Tianjin Jinmen Tigers seem to see a different situation in this game.

Due to the postponement of the Shanghai Port away game against Henan, the suspension of coach Muscat, defensive main Li Shuai and Wei Zhen also needs to be postponed to the match against Tianjin Jinmen Tigers. In addition, the strength of Shanghai Port's foreign aid has declined significantly this season. In the 5th round of the Shanghai derby, none of the foreign players in the front field of Shanghai Port scored or assisted data.

At present, Gustavo has scored four goals in the Harbour team, Leonardo has two goals, and Yusa has also scored one, and the total number of goals scored by the three is just equal with the ace scorer of the Jinmen Tigers, Kiles. Judging from the data of foreign aid goals, Muscat's foreign aid cards this season are obviously not as good as in previous years. Therefore, the Jinmen Tigers have the advantage of being at home and can fight for it.

Judging from the opening stage of the league, the impression of Jinmen Tiger to the outside world is quite amazing. This season, there have been a lot of changes in the squad, and the team has not brought in a good homegrown right wing-back or central defender. In this case, the team has been unbeaten since the beginning, and the team's new foreign players have performed well this season, which reflects Yu Genwei's very good adjustment of the team.

In the first six rounds, the Jinmen Tigers won two wins and drew four. From the third round onwards, the team began to suffer injuries one after another, which gradually increased the difficulties faced by the team. After the break, the Chinese Super League teams are facing a very dense April schedule, which is a very difficult test for the Jinmen Tigers with average squad depth.

Midfielder El Salvador was injured in the third round of the match between the Jinmen Tigers and Qingdao Manatee at home. After the game, he was diagnosed with three second-degree or higher deltoid ligament complex tears in his right ankle and is expected to miss four weeks. El Salvador's injury has affected the formation of the Tigers in midfield, especially in terms of attacking advancement.

However, in the subsequent 4th round of the Chinese Super League, the Jinmen Tigers almost won the game with Keles' outstanding performance in the home "Jinjing Derby". Being able to wrestle with the giants at home is also the confidence that they dare to expect to make a difference in the harbor.

After the home match against Guoan, the Jinmen Tigers ushered in two consecutive away games, with a gap of 6 days. In the first away game against Qingdao West Coast, which is also unbeaten in the league, the Jinmen Tigers attacked strongly and established a goal advantage at half-time, but defensive problems were gradually exposed in the second half. The result was a draw. But after this game, Yang Fan in the backline, midfielders Ademi and Shi Yan also suffered injuries. The Jinmen Tigers can only cope with the match between the promoted horse Dalian InBev with a remnant formation.

Bringing back a point from Dalian, the Jinmen Tigers are still unbeaten after six rounds. However, in this campaign, the Jinmen Tigers' already crippled lineup added two more key players to the suspension, Huang Jiahui and foreign aid Rose will miss the home game against Shanghai Port because of the accumulation of four yellow cards.

In the 6th round of the Chinese Super League, Shanghai Port was originally an away game against Henan, but as soon as the team arrived in Zhengzhou, they received the news that the game was postponed due to weather conditions. In a hurry, I stayed in Zhengzhou for one night, and the next day I took the high-speed train back to Shanghai. In terms of physical fitness, the Jinmen Tigers 9 days and 3 games, plus personnel injuries, the overall relative weakness, Shanghai Port in a few days of rest, in the 15th will go to Tianjin, 10 days between the two rounds of games, it can be said that the attitude of waiting for work in the face of the Jinmen Tigers.

In the last round last year, Shanghai Port defeated Jinmen Tigers 5-0 at home. Oscar and Vargas each scored a goal, and Wu Lei scored twice, but this season, Oscar and Vargas have left the harbor, and Wu Lei has not been able to resume the game for the time being due to injury. And in the Harbour lineup, there are also suspended players in the defensive lineup, and head coach Muscat has also been banned for one game for his remarks. Therefore, the Jinmen Tigers are not without opportunities.

In this game, the Jinmen Tigers will have to further restructure the squad according to injuries and suspensions, especially in the defensive line. Xie Weijun, who played a cameo in the central defender in the last round, contributed 14 clearances, the highest in the game, indicating that Yu Genwei's transformation of Xie Weijun during the winter training period has begun to see results. With Wong Ka Fai and Rose suspended at the same time, a new defensive combination will inevitably be born, which may have a lack of run-in for the new centre-back combination, and need to avoid being caught by the opponent as a breakthrough.

Although Shanghai Port also has a defect in the lineup, the overall strength is still superior, and Tianjin Jinmen Tigers are extremely difficult to fight at home under the double blow of injury and suspension. However, the midfielders Wang Qiuming and Kiles are in hot form, Keles has contributed 7 goals and 1 assist in 6 games this season, and his finishing ability is still the most powerful magic weapon of the Jinmen Tigers. The key to the game was the ability of the Jinmen Tigers to resist pressure and the efficiency of counter-attacks.