September 10: Chinese Super League Round 18 Makeup Match! Tianjin Jinmen Tiger Face Liaoning, Two Positives and One Negative, Liaoning Have a Chance to Win

At 7 p.m. on September 12, at Tianjin TEDA Football Stadium, the Chinese Super League Round 18 makeup match will take place. Jinmen Tiger will host Liaoning Ironman.

The two teams are separated by only three points in the standings. Jinmen Tiger are 14th and Ironman are 13th. Simply put, the winner moves up a step while the loser drops a level.

Before the match, two positive pieces of news and one negative piece of news emerged. The two positives favor Ironman, while the negative one concerns themselves.

First, the positive points.

Ironman have a psychological advantage. On March 21 this year, in the third round of the Chinese Super League, Liaoning Ironman defeated Jinmen Tiger 3-0 at home. They led 1-0 at halftime, and Jinmen Tiger failed to score throughout the match. Meeting again less than half a year later, Ironman's players know how to approach this opponent.

The second piece of good news comes from Jinmen Tiger. The team started the season with a 10-point deduction, and those deducted points are still affecting them. They just defeated Zhejiang in the previous round, but before that their four-match winless run had only recently ended. The team's performances have been inconsistent, as they can beat Shenzhen 3-0 but also lose 2-4 to Guoan. This unstable form gives Ironman a chance to earn points away from home.

The bad news, however, comes from Ironman themselves.

Liaoning Ironman have recorded one draw and four losses in their last five league matches, earning only one point. On September 6, they conceded five goals away to Yunnan Yukun in a 0-5 defeat, with Kleber scoring a hat-trick. Defensively, they have conceded 46 goals in 25 matches and have won only once in 12 away games.

The team's morale is currently low. Midfield core Yasuhiro Kōmoto did not play against Yunnan, and striker Mbenza's form remains uncertain. If both players are unavailable again on September 12, Ironman's attacking organization will face major difficulties.

Jinmen Tiger also have their own problems. They were deducted 10 points at the start of the season. Although their actual points gained are not low, their table total is only 22 points, just two points above the relegation zone. Their remaining schedule is also difficult: after facing Ironman, they have only one home match left, with away games against Chengdu Rongcheng, Henan, and Dalian Yingbo, plus a home match against Shanghai Port.

Yu Genwei's team had just defeated Zhejiang, providing some relief. In that match, Hadadas scored a follow-up goal in the seventh minute, and Ji Shengpan came off the bench to score the winning goal. They had less than 35% possession but secured the victory. This shows that the five-defender counterattacking system can work against teams of a similar level.

The problem is that their scoring sources are too concentrated. Foreign players such as Hadadas and Giles are the main attacking threats, while domestic players have scored few goals. Once the foreign players are tightly marked, the attack can easily lose effectiveness.

For Ironman to earn points in this match, they must first stabilize their defense. They have conceded 24 goals in 12 away matches, and without improvement, traveling to Tianjin will be difficult. They do have a psychological advantage from past meetings, as their 3-0 win in March showed their tactical approach can contain Jinmen Tiger. However, their current form is poor, with consecutive losses and goals conceded, so it is unclear how much this advantage can help.

Comparing the two teams' records over their last 10 matches, Jinmen Tiger have five wins, two draws, and three losses, while Ironman have two wins, two draws, and six losses. One team is moving upward while the other is sliding downward, and this difference may show on the pitch.

However, relegation battles are never decided only by the standings. Jinmen Tiger have home advantage but carry the pressure of the points deduction. Ironman have psychological confidence but a fragile defense. The team that makes fewer mistakes on the pitch will have the chance to take all three points.