Obafemi Martins helps Shenhua win Chinese FA Cup

Obafemi Martins helps Shenhua
win Chinese FA Cup
- Former Super Eagles striker scores for
Shenhua in China
- Martins scored seven goals in 1159
minutes from 13 Chinese Super League
matches
- The Chinese FA Cup is his first trophy in
China
Former Nigerian international Obafemi
Martins scored to help his Shenhua team
win the Chinese FA Cup on Sunday,
November 25.
The veteran Nigeria striker completed
the job at the Shanghai Stadium as his
side held their own against the
battering Red Eagles.
Shenhua beat Shanghai SIPG on the
away goals rule after Sunday's second
leg ended 3-2 to make it 3-3 on
aggregate.
Wenjun Lue opened the scoring for
André Villas-Boas’ men before Yunding
Cao levelled proceedings for the visitors
on the stroke of half time.
Eight minutes past the hour mark,
Martins gave the visitors the lead for
the first time in the tie. The former
Inter Milan marksman cut in from the
right to curl in a beautiful effort.
However Brazilian Hulk scored a
penalty to level matters before an own
goal from Shenhua captain Giovanni
Moreno gave SIPG the win on the night.
SIPG also finished with 10 men after the
sending off of Fu Huan in the final
moments of the match.
Villas Boas has been under extreme
pressure in China which has led to
speculation about his future at the
Chinese club
Chinese media say that Villas-Boas had
to lift at least one trophy in his first
season to stay in the job, but SIPG came
second in the Chinese Super League and
went out in the semi-finals of the Asian
Champions League.
"It's not the time now to speak about
this. SIPG know my decision and soon
you will know about it," he said after the
game.
"For us it's a pity, we were close to three
trophies this season but we couldn't
achieve them.
"I think we are more ready now to face
the challenges that lay ahead of us for
the future.
"We had three knockouts and we failed
them all, that's my responsibility, I was
the one that made the promise for this
team to achieve success and I failed in
this bid."
It was Shenhua's first FA Cup triumph
since 1998 and earns them a place in
next season's Asian Champions League.