By Liu Xiangyu Not many people had even heard of such a team before the afternoon of Nov. 17, and they couldn't be found on the map of professional soccer in China - but this is the kind of championship team that advanced to the top 16 in FA Cup 32, toppling the old mighty Guoan on penalties.
The FA Cup draw groups were released and both Inter and Harbour are in the bottom half of the table. These two teams are considered to be the most competitive teams in the bottom half. Guoan's first match was against Chinese champion team Jingchuan Wenhui. It is hard to imagine that such a non-professional league team will give Guoan trouble.
Jingchuan Wenhui was founded in 2013 and started competing in the Champions League in 2021. This year, it finished second from bottom in the Group B finals with seven wins and six losses. They scored only five goals and conceded 14, but it was the same team that turned the tables on Guiao.
In the final round of the Chinese Super League, Guoan defeated Cheung Kong 3-1. When the team conceded the first goal, the team pulled back three goals in a row. The second half was significantly better than the first. After winning the match, the team gave a short vacation to the key players and most of them got time to relax. In the next FA Cup, the coaching staff is ready to use young players and substitutes.
"I will give some of the younger players a chance in this game." Head coach Stanley set the tone before the game, but he also emphasized that he would give his opponents plenty of respect.
But judging from the result and the course of the game, it is clear that Guoan did not give enough importance to it.
Stanley's claim to fame is the FA Cup.In 2020, before becoming Guoan's first-team coach, he led Guoan's reserve team to a Youth Storm victory over Chengdu in the FA Cup. Guoan fans talk about this game. The wind and water turned. Surprisingly, when Stanley became first team coach and played in the FA Cup, Guoan became a cold shoulder.
Guoan made a big change in the lineup and formation, including Tian Yuda, Liu Guobo, Shi Nguocheng, Ruan Qilong and Liang Shaowen U23 players started, together with Cao Yongjing, Kim Taeyan, Zhang Chengdong, Bai Yang and Yu Yang. The goalkeeper was Guo Quanbo, who has been fighting for a long time. Only five players sat on the bench, including goalie Ma Kunyoshi. Judging from the personnel arrangement, Stanley was confident, but the game started off much differently than he expected.
"At the beginning I arranged a 343 lineup hoping to put more pressure on the opponent, unfortunately my tactical deployment didn't work." Stanley said that Guoan had wanted to attack strongly, but the players did not have a tacit understanding with each other, coupled with the less familiar formation playing style, the effect was not good.
In contrast, Jingchuan Fumihide was the first to break through the Guoan gate with a free kick. When Stanley resumed the game after the match, he thought it was a wrong start leading to an overall failure, "As my opening tactics and lineups were not arranged, were not arranged, I go back to watch the video and then summarize." After the match, he sincerely apologized.
Conceding a goal, Guoan was quickly woken up as Liu Guobo equalized and Cao Yongjing took the lead.
"We changed our formation to the familiar 433 and it worked well. Unfortunately, we didn't extend our dominance to the end and that's because our opponents played well." Stanley said.
In terms of key statistics, such as shot attempts, shots and dangerous offense, Guoan beat the champion team, but in terms of possession, the opponent was higher than Guoan. Though Jingzhou Wenhui is a low level team, he never kicks the ball at random and is ready for it.
The suspense continued when Jingzhou scored again in the 70th minute to make the score 2-2. Although Guoan then launched a fierce attack, he failed to change the score and had to enter a brutal penalty shootout.
The AFC Cup is a hotbed of cold goals, and penalty shoot-outs will be infinitely more so.
He contributed a couple of key saves in the game, and the penalty shootout saw Thorns more relaxed and mentally dominant.
Both sides hit penalties in the first three rounds of the tournament, with Jingzhou keeper Cui Tonghui hitting the first. Kim Tae-yeon, who played for Guoan in the fourth round, conceded a penalty kick, while Ma Dong-eun, who played in Jingchuan Wenhui in the fifth round, put the ball in the net to end the suspense. The referee ruled the goal valid despite Guoan players arguing that Ma Dongdong's penalty was illegal.
Kim Tae-Yeon conceded a penalty, but the problem wasn't him. He was dragged into the penalty shootout by his opponent. For Guoan, he lost, and the penalty shootout became the laughing stock of the outside world. When Jingzhou Wenhui celebrated wildly, Guoan became a backdrop.
"I want to congratulate my opponents Jingchuan Wenhui. They won a game and they should have won a game. When you play against a low level team, you have this problem. The opponent is very committed. We had to give our all. We didn't do enough." Stanley said that, which he said is not uncommon in soccer, "is when a lower league team knocks out a higher level team."
Last year's AFC Cup, Guoan also a penalty shootout, but at least then the opponent Jiu Niu is a Central League team, this time lost to the Central Championship team, Guoan can not find any reason.
This season, the national security has no clear goal in the FA Cup, and even in and out of the dilemma. The wavering mentality led to an accident, but in any case, he lost in such a game.
