Shanghai Port's disastrous start, Muscat hesitates to speak

Report by Cheng Shan In the first round of the new CSL season, Shanghai Port lost 1-2 at home to Henan Club Caitaofang, already trailing last year's title rival Chengdu Rongcheng by 8 points. Although this is not the first opening-round loss in Port's history, the -5-point start this season, combined with previous failures in the AFC Champions League and the Super Cup, especially the chaotic performances across multiple consecutive matches, has made the defending champion's new season journey difficult from the very beginning. Can Muscat, who has dominated the CSL consecutively, rewrite this disastrous start?

Before the match officially began, the retirement ceremonies for Cai Huikang and Lü Wenjun were filled with warmth, but no one expected Henan to break the deadlock just 1 minute into the game. Zhong Yihao received a direct pass from midfield, broke into the left side of the penalty area and finished his shot, the ball curling into the far corner. Port goalkeeper Yan Junling couldn't save it, the score becoming 0-1. In the 16th minute, Henan extended their lead again. Wang Shangyuan delivered a precise cross from the right, and Maidana scored with a header inside the box, making it 0-2. In fact, if not for the home goalposts "repeatedly saving the day," the defending champion might have suffered a heavy defeat even in the first half.

During first-half stoppage time, Henan Caitaofang, who frequently wasted chances, was also punished. Gabriel, receiving an assist from new signing Yang Xi on the flank, cut inside and scored with a low shot, changing the score to 1-2. However, luck ultimately didn't transform into a miracle comeback. Although Muscat substituted in attacking talents like Kuai Jiwen, Leonardo, Wu Lei, and Li Xinxiang in the second half, and Port created many scoring opportunities after sustained pressure, they never managed to equalize.

Although they still failed to win the last two AFC Champions League Elite matches in February; although in the Super Cup on March 1st, the team lost to Beijing Guoan with zero shots on target throughout the match, losing the opening league match at home still shocked fans and media. After all, the -5-point start puts immense pressure on the team, requiring quickly resetting the negative points to zero. Yet the reality is that Port's longstanding issue of low offensive efficiency remains unresolved. The absence of Jiang Guangtai and Wang Shenchao also keeps the team's defense problematic.

Although the team's offense improved in the second half, they suffered two blows with goals being disallowed. In the 74th minute, Liu Zhurun headed home from close range. But just as Liu Zhurun and Wu Lei celebrated wildly, referee Tang Shunqi whistled, ruling Liu Zhurun had committed a foul by charging before the goal, thus invalidating it. Seeing this decision, usually emotionally stable Port coach Muscat momentarily lost control, unusually waving his arms angrily on the sidelines in protest.

In the 88th minute, Li Shuai's header from central penalty area hit the frame, Wu Lei followed up with a header rebound scoring, but it was instantly called off for offside. Wu Lei, returning from injury, played 20 minutes as a substitute showing decent form. Besides the offside goal, he also completed 2 shots and 1 key pass, but being away from competition made him slightly lacking in physical confrontations, unable to create a last-gasp chance.

Looking at the whole match, Port's slow integration issue was still fully exposed. Poor磨合 among foreign players became a key factor in this loss. Newly signed Ghanaian winger Ampem started for 60 minutes, attempted 3 dribbles, but had 5 connection errors with midfield, failing to pose effective threat; Jean Claude, known for defense, contributed 4 tackles and 3 clearances overall, but lacked organizing ability in attack, long-pass success rate only 58%, unable to relieve midfield推进 pressure.

The only foreign player performing decently, Gabriel, scored the team's sole goal, completing 3 shots on target and 2 successful dribbles, but limited by insufficient midfield support, struggled to pose sustained threat. Without playmaker Merlindo's串联, Vital struggled alone in midfield. The team's passing errors高达 23 times,难以 forming effective推进. Against Henan's密集防守 in later stages, Port lacked central penetration ability, overly relied on flank crosses,又 lacked a target player, offensive tactics单一且 yielded little effect.

Post-match, goal-scorer Gabriel said he was indeed somewhat sad, "We had some chances to score, but unfortunately didn't succeed. Also, conceding early was quite fast, an early goal is a result you really don't want to see in a match, and it disrupted our plans."

Coach Muscat thought the team entered the match状态 very slowly,确实 differing from his usual希望球队能抓住开场的打法, "We were somewhat hesitant at the start, quickly conceded a goal in the opening phase, then conceded the second goal.可以说 the开局 led to the losing outcome. But afterwards we still showed the courage we should have, demonstrated we could control the situation, could create chances, showed our true selves, so the match can be divided into two segments, the first 15 minutes and then the subsequent 75 minutes."

Regarding the controversy over Liu Zhurun's disallowed goal, Muscat admitted frankly: "Honestly, I still feel it's difficult to answer this question sincerely. I think the entire goal process fully reflected our playing style, this goal was very beautiful, probably the most精彩进球 scored tonight. Perhaps many things happened tonight that don't allow me to comment further."

In March, Port still has two matches: home against Qingdao West Coast and away against Dalian Yingbo. The team can use this period before entering April to further refine tactics, promote new signings'磨合, and allow injured players to gradually regain form. For Port陷入困境, how to seize this adjustment period to扭转颓势 will be key to whether the team can emerge from gloom this season.