Yanbian Longding beat Dalian Huai 3:1 in League One's regular season round nineteen, a result that keeps the hosts firmly in the upper half while Dalian drift further down the table. The match took place on 15 August 2026, and by then Giovanny had already drawn eyes with his first goal.
The opener came in the forty-first minute, a clean finish from Giovanny that gave Yanbian the lead they would not surrender. To be fair, Dalian had been pushing for something but could not find the breakthrough, and then the momentum shifted entirely after that opening goal.
Just after the hour mark, Dalian gifted Yanbian a second when Xu Jizu turned the ball into his own net in the fifty-sixth minute. Yanbian then added a third through Giovanny, who converted a penalty in the sixty-third minute — his second of the evening. By the eightieth minute the result was beyond doubt, and Giovanny added a third penalty himself in the eighty-first.
The statistics tell a story Yanbian fans have seen before: equal possession, but different outcomes. Both sides held fifty percent, yet Dalian wasted their chances. They registered twelve shots off target against Yanbian's two, while Yanbian hit the target three times to Dalian's two. And here's the thing — three shots on target with three goals versus two shots on target with none.
Yanbian sit fifth with thirty-five points from twenty-two matches, while Dalian occupy eleventh with twenty-five from twenty-one. The hosts had lost their last outing 1-0 to Shenzhen Juniors before this win, but the draw against Nanjing City two weeks prior showed they could grind results when needed. Dalian's recent form has been poorer, including a defeat to Heilongjiang Lava Spring and a loss to Meizhou Hakka.