Shanghai Shenhua, who recently parted ways with Yordan Stoykov, appointed Andrzej Strejlau to face Beijing Guoan in his first game in charge.
[2] As a result, in April 1997, Guoan manager Jin Zhiyang brought in Paraguayan midfielder Jorge Campos and Kenyan international William Inganga to strengthen their squad.
[3] This made Guoan realise the value that foreign players could bring to the team, and subsequently brought in Spanish forward Andrés Olivas and Paraguayan striker Casiano Delvalle,[2] who replaced Inganga.
[5][6] The Shanghai Shenhua squad, which on paper was a stronger side than that of Beijing Guoan, had a generation of Chinese international footballers in Fan Zhiyi, Wu Chengying, Xie Hui, and Qi Hong.
Delvalle made his Guoan debut in this match, forming a strike partnership with Andrés Olivas and with his Paraguayan compatriot Jorge Campos supporting behind them in midfield – the first time the three have played together.
Team captain Fan Zhiyi led the back line as manager Andrzej Strejlau played Xie Hui as the sole attacker; on the bench for Shenhua were the Paraguayan duo Adolfo Fatecha and Edgar Denis.
[1] In the 20th minute, Cao Xiandong's shot, after being deflected by several Shenhua players on the way, squeezed past the fingertips of Kleymyonov and into the goal, giving Guoan a 2–0 lead.
After the break, Adolfo Fatecha and Edgar Denis came on to replace Qi Hong and Xie Hui,[9] but it seemed like the Shenhua team had lost their spirit to fight.
[9] Five minutes later, a Delvalle low shot from the edge of the penalty arc went through the fatigued bodies of a set of Shenhua players and past the goalkeeper, completing his personal hat-trick.
After the game, the trio of Jorge Campos, Casiano Delvalle, and Andrés Olivas were dubbed by media as the "three foreign guns" (Chinese: 三杆洋枪), citing their collective menace in the front lines.
[12] In the 1997 Chinese film The Dream Factory, this football match was mentioned as part of a scene which involved actor Li Qi discussing contemporary news with Feng Xiaogang and He Bing.