On August 30th at 19:35, Chongqing Tongliang Dragons from China's second division will sit at their home ground, Tongliang Dragon Stadium, to face Chinese Super League giants Shanghai Shenhua in the fifth round, or quarter-final, of the 2023 Chinese Football Association Cup. Before the match, Chongqing Tongliang Dragons released a preparatory activity poster with the theme of youth red and brave bloom.
The main visual composition of the poster is four Tongliang Dragon soldiers with their heads held high, looking ahead to meet the challenge in the sea of red at home. Looking at the jersey numbers, the four players are:No.56 Tong Zhicheng, No.57 Wang Shiqin, No.55 Song Pan and No.53 Li Zhenquan. They all have one thing in common: they are all U21 players. Among them, the youngest one, Li Zhenquan, was born on December 16, 2003.
However, in terms of appearances on the double-header this season, they have both exceeded 12 games, with Li Zhenquan and Song Pan also getting five and two goals respectively.
In fact, Chongqing Tongliang Dragons also "hid" a younger player, that is, December 18, 2002 born Xiang Yuwang. In addition to the U21 players, to Yu Wang also has an important identity label, that is, the field captain. Although young, the team has Wu Qing, Zhao and Jing, Huang Xiyang and other veterans, but more often than not, Chongqing Tongliang Dragon on the field captain is still looking forward to.
Looking at the stats, this young man also deserves the captain's armband - this season, he has played 20 matches for the team in the C.B. and A.F.C. Cup, which can be considered as a full time attendance, with 19 of those starts, a total of 12 goals and 6 assists, making him the team's top scorer.
It is easy to see that Chongqing Tongliang Dragons will continue to focus on the youth storm in the upcoming quarter-finals of the FA Cup. This exactly reflects the theme of the poster, "Youth Red Hot, Bloom Bravely".
Of course, veterans and players in their playing age such as Wu Qing, Zhao Hejing, Huang Xiyang, Chen Kerui, Chen Jiaqi and Hu Yongfa are also in Chongqing Tongliang Dragons. The whole team has a reasonable age structure and optimized configuration. This is the main reason why they have been able to make great progress in China B and AFC Cup.
Now, in the 16th round of the 2023 season, which is also the 2nd round of the final, Chongqing Tongliang Dragons remain undefeated, with 13 wins, 3 draws, 44 goals scored and 9 goals conceded to accumulate 42 points, a strong lead in the table of the championship group, and already have an 8-point advantage in the first place, which is the number one favorite to reach the first place.
Against this backdrop, Chongqing Tongliang Dragons will surely go all out to face Shanghai Shenhua and try to reach the quarterfinals.
Coincidentally, Shanghai Shenhua has also amassed 42 points after 24 rounds of the Chinese Super League this season, but are in third place. That said, this is a cross-level conversation between two 42-point teams.
On paper, Shanghai Shenhua, with many international players such as Wu Xi, Yu Hanchao, Dai Weijun and Cao Jieding, clearly have the advantage. However, in normal league matches, Shanghai Shenhua seldom arranges for a full Chinese class to play, and instead, foreigners such as Malelai lead the lineup. Now, suddenly become a full Chinese class lineup, Wu Jingui and his disciples will certainly be a little uncomfortable. This requires them to adjust and integrate as soon as possible, and try to form a brand new fighting force. In the pre-match conference, both Wu Jingui and Wu Xi said that they are ready to fight. So, the answer to the question of how well Shanghai Shenhua, with a full Chinese squad, will fight is about to be revealed.
CCTV Sports Event Channel (CCTV5+) as per the broadcasting arrangement, Five Star Sports, and more than 10 online platforms will jointly broadcast the game live.
