The last two matches of the 2023 CFA Cup Top 8 were played on the night of August 31, Beijing time. After some fierce battles, Shandong Taishan drew 1:1 away to Guoan, 0:0 in extra time and 5:4 in penalty kicks, while Qingdao Hainiu beat Nantong Zhiyun 3:0.
Among the four sets of matchups in the last eight of the F.A.C.A. Cup, the strong dialog between Guoan and Shandong Taishan is the most important one, and last night's evenly matched matchup between the two teams was really exciting. Only 9 minutes into the match, Shandong Taishan had a chance to get a free kick from an acceptable position on the right front edge of the penalty area. Zheng Zheng took the penalty with a powerful left-footed shot, which went around the wall and straight to the goal. the sound of BOOM was blocked by the near post. Li Yuan smartly grabbed the second drop point and left footed the ball in the air, the ball flew straight to the empty goal. Chen Pu followed up, and then the ball steadily broke the door. Shandong Taishan got a fantastic start with 1:0. In the 15th minute, Shandong Taishan launched an attack on the right side of the front field to create another killing opportunity. Fellaini opened up the defense in front of the penalty spot, unloaded the ball and got a super close half one-touch chance, but he was launched too square by goalkeeper Housen.
In the 17th minute, Zhang Xizhe sent an exquisite long pass from the backfield, tearing through Shandong Taishan's defense. Kang Xiangyou inserted at high speed, shook off two defenders with his speed and killed the box. He calmly shot the ball with a half-dagger, and Beijing Guoan quickly equalized the score 1.:1. After equalizing the score, Guoan manager Suarez made an irrational behavior, running to the front of Shandong Taishan bench waving his fist to celebrate, which is more or less a failure. In the 37th minute, Shandong Taishan right corner kick opportunity, Moises grabbed some overhead shots in the back, BOOM a ball was blocked by the goal post, and then someone in Shandong managed to make up the shot, but this time a little bit of bad luck. Claesson added a shot on goal, but the first goal was blown away.
The changeover saw both sides fight hard but with few chances. Instead, referee Manning grabbed the mirror. In this match, the coaches of both sides, Suarez and Choi Kang-hee, were yellow-carded by Maning, and the assistant coach of Shandong Taishan was also red-carded. Manning showed a total of 14 yellow cards and one red card in the whole match. Manning's penalties in this game were indeed a bit confusing. For example, late in overtime, Moises took a hard shot and the ball was apparently blocked by Li Lei, but Manning didn't take the corner kick, which made Moises very upset. Then Claesson disgruntledly sprayed a wave of Manin, resulting in a yellow card. The two sides wrote more than 100 minutes of fighting: 1 draw, the game dragged into a penalty shootout.
The first four rounds of both sides were penalized Claessan, Moises, Ngaardew and Zhang Chengdong. In the fifth round, Kang Xiangyou's penalty flew directly, Fellaini eventually scored steadily, Shandong Taishan penalty shootout 5.:4 (total score 6:5) thrillingly eliminated Guoan into the semifinals. Last season, Shandong Taishan, second in the Chinese Super League, and Zhejiang, third in the Chinese Super League, entered the final of the F.A.C.A. Cup, and Shandong Taishan eventually beat Zhejiang 2. 1 to win the title. Unfortunately for Shandong Taishan, who finished second this season, and Shanghai Shenhua, who finished third, both teams made it to the semifinals. They have yet to meet in the semifinals. Shanghai Shenhua plays Qingdao Hainiu and Shandong Taishan plays Dalian Ren. If both teams can win their semifinal matches, this season's F.A.C. Cup final could be a showdown between the second and third in the Chinese Super League
