Obafemi Martins Ends Two-Year Goal Drought in China
Former Super Eagles striker Obafemi Martins scored his first goal since March 2018 as his Chinese club Wuhan Zall held Henan Jianye to a 1-1 draw in the Chinese Super League play-offs on Friday.
Martins, 35, came on as a substitute in the 57th minute to rescue a point for Zall in stoppage-time at the Dalian Sports Center.
Martins linked up with Ivory Coast’s Jean Kouassi to cancel out Wang Shangyuan’s 25th-minute opener for Henan Jianye, and also broke his Wuhan Zall duck since his free transfer from Shanghai Shenhua in September.
The strike was the well-travelled striker’s first since a hat-trick for Shanghai Shenhua in their 4-2 win over Hebei CFCC in a Chinese top-flight match in 2018.
In the two-legged playoff, Zall lost the first leg 1-0 to Henan Jianye and are now in a fight against relegation after a 2-1 aggregate defeat.
Obagoal has now scored 20 goals in 48 appearances in the Chinese Super League since he arrived in the Asian country from Major League Soccer club Seattle Sounders in 2016.
He has appeared eight times for Zall this campaign.