Football
Michael Church, Asia correspondent 8y

Luiz Felipe Scolari: Guangzhou Evergrande can win sixth straight title

Luiz Felipe Scolari is confident Guangzhou Evergrande can win a sixth consecutive Chinese Super League title after a 3-0 victory over Hebei China Fortune moved them nine points clear at the top of the table with just six games remaining.

Saturday's result brought to an end a run of three league matches without a win for Evergrande and came thanks to goals from Huang Bowen, Alan and Ricardo Goulart, whose strike drew him level at the top of the goal-scoring charts on 14 for the season with Shanghai Shenhua's Demba Ba.

Second-placed Jiangsu Suning play bottom-of-the-table Shijiazhuang Everbright on Sunday evening as they look to close the gap on Evergrande at the top of the standings to six points.

"We stepped up to a new level after the end of the international break," Evergrande boss Scolari told reporters. "I believe we can win our sixth championship in a row if we fight as a team, because we are a team composed of Chinese, Korean and Brazilian internationals. Solidarity is essential for us."

Evergrande's victory on Saturday came against a Hebei side that has appointed former Manchester City and Real Madrid boss Manuel Pellegrini as head coach, replacing former China international midfielder Li Tie at the helm.

Pellegrini will officially take control of the team on Monday and, while Scolari backed the new arrival to succeed, he also stressed the need for Chinese football to embrace local coaches such as Li.

"The arrival of Pellegrini will certainly help football in Hebei and Chinese football, but every coach needs time," Scolari said. "I hope they can give him time.

"But regarding Li Tie, he is a good person and a good coach. Like Hao Wei at Evergrande, they are both the future of Chinese coaching. Chinese football needs them. They should learn and improve while working with foreign coaches -- that is how Chinese football can progress."

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