Pride and Prejudice

Dong Ji Forward #22 Zhou Geng after the emotionally charged home defeat.  Geng has been scoreless in 17 games.

National Pride or National Prejudice?

Was that the prize on the table as the Battle of the Bottom Feeders collided?

In a match devoid of much meaning in the standings, the Tiangong Wuji managed to put some distance between themselves and Huacheng Dong Ji with a 1 – 0 victory.

With the win, Wuji moved to 6 and 11 for the season while Dong Ji continued their race to the bottom with a 4 and 13 record.

Wuji’s youth movement presented a glimpse of hope for the future.

A lofted pass from 19 year Khloe Mckay bounced across the edge of the area to 19 year old Achille Botrel, who struck it in the air, hitting across it with her right foot and smashing it into the far side of the goal beyond a helpless Dong Ji Goalkeeper Su Xue, at the 77th minute for the game winner.

However, the key highlights of the match, beyond the one goal generated, was the excessive amount of rough play and general ill will displayed against each other.

Reckless sliding tackles, gratuitous contact, and several heated exchanges generated two fouls each for both teams; 3 substitutions per team including one injury for Dong Ji who had to be carried off the field, and an equipment failure for a Wuji player’s oxygen tank.

After the match, Dong Ji Captain Lian was quick to point the finger at Wuji, “They should be ashamed for instigating so much careless activity. People’s livelihoods were endangered. The league should review this match and hand out suspensions or fines to prevent them from doing this again.”

Wuji Captain Stanislas Hachette replied, “Those guys aren’t innocent by any means. Look, we’ve both had horrible seasons so I think both teams were guilty of taking out some frustration on each other. ”

Hopefully both teams got some frustration out of their system because next week will likely bring more pain as Dong Ji faces the league leading Titans while Wuji battle the 2nd place Comets.