Do or Die for Beijing Guo'an

Update: Despite defeating Shandong 1-0, Beijing Guo'an had there championship hopes dashed by Changchun's 4-0 pummeling of Shenzhen.

More than 20,000 fans and a record 5-600 police (including riot police) will brave the cold and rain at 7.30pm tonight as the local football team Beijing Guo'an take on Shandong’s Lucheng out at Fengtai Stadium. This match is a do or die battle for Guo'an and will help decide whether they take premiership honors in the Chinese Super League.

Beijing are currently ranked second on the league table, one point behind Changchun Shenhua. If they wish to hold the premier's trophy aloft, they not only need to beat the Shandong team in this final round of the season, but are also depending on the lowly placed Shenzhen team to either manage a draw or defeat the dominant Changchun. The lowly-placed Shenzhen team is offering their players a RMB 1,000,000 bonus for defeating or a RMB 600,000 bonus for drawing with the stronger Changchun side in a match that will be played at the same time as the Beijing-Shandong show down. I wonder where this money might be coming from?

And why all the cops? The police will be there both to crackdown on the scalping of tickets and to control the volatile Beijing fans who have run into trouble with authorities throughout the year with both their obscene "Jing ma" chants and the throwing of bottles and other missiles onto the pitch.

The Beijing vs. Shandong match will be broadcast live on BTV-6 and the Shenzhen vs. Changchun on CCTV-5. Both games start at 7.30pm.

Links and Sources:
Fifa.com: Title contenders close in
The Beijing News: 国安争冠战防暴警出动
The Beijing News: 北京加油！深圳请加油……
Sohu: 国安赛前失大将 堤亚哥意外受伤能否战鲁能成疑
tbjblog: Swearin’ up a storm