Capello's first win remains elusive after 1-1 draw with Tianjin Teda

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:43 am
Fabio Capello watches Jiangsu Suning in 2017.
Fabio Capello watches Jiangsu Suning in 2017.
Getty Images

Fabio Capello's wait for this first Chinese Super League win will go on for at least another week after his Jiangsu Suning side were held to a 1-1 draw by Tianjin Teda on Friday evening.

The Italian, who took over at the helm of the club last month, has seen his side draw their last two games as Jiangsu continue to look for only their second win of what has been a disastrous season so far.

Capello took encouragement, however, from the nature of the result with Jiangsu picking up a point thanks to Roger Martinez's goal five minutes into injury time.

"This result is very important," said Capello. "Psychologically we won against ourselves. We scored in the final second and it means that we have no physical problems.

"It was a fair result. Both sides had their chances. In the last 20, 25 minutes we controlled the game and that was how we managed to score.

"We had a lot of opportunities that we failed to convert into goals. We made mistakes while our opponents also made mistakes, but this is football."

Tianjin Teda took the lead 10 minutes into the second half thanks to a header from Cao Yang and the home side looked set to take all three points only for Martinez to score after racing onto a through pass and clipping the ball past the advancing Yang Qipeng.

The draw leaves Jiangsu in 15th place in the standings, now one point clear of last-placed Yanbian Funde, who take on second-placed Shanghai SIPG on Saturday, while Tianjin remain in 13th on 15 points.