More than half an hour, 34 penalties, two yellow cards and a good ticking off of the ballboys later, Shanghai SIPG broke Suzhou Dongwu hearts in surely the most ridiculously epic penalty shootout in Chinese football history.
Third-tier opponents Suzhou had held SIPG to a 1-1 draw in normal time in the Chinese FA Cup, the big-spending Shanghai team needing a 94th minute equalizer from Wu Lei to escape a humiliating defeat.
And so to penalties, where both teams scored their first four apiece. The fifth and sixth rounds saw SIPG penalties saved, meaning should Suzhou have scored, a famous scalp would have been theirs. Alas, they hit the post and then blasted wide and high.
So on it went: the goalkeepers both smashed theirs in; after 11 each it went back to the original penalty takers for another round each; an SIPG coach was booked for lurking behind the goal, as was Wu Lei for trying to interfere with proceedings.
The referee even had to tell the Suzhou ballboys off for swirling their raincoats in an attempt to put off the SIPG penalty takers (no doubt they just wanted it to be over with; it was probably now past their bedtime).
The tie was finally decided in the 17th round, when SIPG goalkeeper Yan Junling saved from Suzhou's Xiao Kun for a 15-14 win on penalties (shown as 16-15, as in China penalties are counted as an extension of the score at 90 minutes).
You can watch the shootout in all its 37 minute and 52 second glory here (VPN off):
Or watch the highlights here (VPN on):
SIPG will take on Fabio Cannavaro’s Tianjin Quanjian in the quarterfinal.
Over at the Hongkou Football Stadium Shanghai Shenhua edged arch rivals Beijing Guo'an 1-0, Fredy Guarin scoring in the 52nd minute from an assist from Argentina striker Carlos Tevez. That result earned them a quarterfinal tie against Shandong Luneng.
Was it the longest penalty shootout in history?
Alas no. According to Wikipedia, the current world record for the longest penalty shoot-out in a first class match is 48 penalties during the 2005 Namibian Cup when KK Palace beat Civics 17–16.
"We didn't think it was a record but I am very proud," Titus Kunamuene, head of competitions at the Namibian Football Association, said at the time. "But, really, at the end of the game everybody was more relieved than anything else."
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