At the beginning of the season, Qingdao West Coast used to have the trend of dark horse. In the first four rounds, they won 2, drew 1 and lost 1. The only loss was to the then leader. They won the championship against Shanghai Shenhua, with a 0.: second defeat on the road. But the next 17 rounds also had only 2 wins, and soon fell into the relegation zone, and Hisashi Kurosaki's dismissal was inevitable.
It's a bit puzzling that the new coach is 80-year-old former international Shaw Chia-Yi. The resume for playing soccer is okay. As a coach, he is an absolute novice. He has just received his professional coaching certificate. He used to work as an assistant coach for the national soccer team and has never coached a club. Some say this is just a backup for Zheng Zhi. Zheng Zhi was the first one found in Qingdao West Coast. If that failed, he found his colleague Shao Jiayi.
Shao Shuai's first match, hosting another relegation team, the Cangzhou Lions coached by Li Xiaopeng, a 1:1 draw is not unacceptable, but it's clearly not enough if you're going to be relegated.
Always fighting for first place is the spirit of Beijing Guoan. Although many times it is impossible, this spirit is always there and will make you love it as deeply as you want to and hate it as much as you want to. This season is no different. Today's Beijing Guoan, the fight for the first has long been hopeless, the possibility of fighting for the third may not be there, but the spirit of fighting for the first is still there. In the last round of home games against Shanghai Shenhua, the opponent must get 3 points, otherwise it means losing the hope of competing for the title. The result was a 2:1 shutout by Guoan at Gongtian.
Qingdao West Coast is second to last in the instant Chinese Super League table with 18 points from 22 matches with 4 wins, 6 draws and 12 losses. Compared to the relegation zone, Meizhou 14th Hakka (one more round) has 2 points less than Cangzhou 12th Lions (one more round). A win could help Qingdao West Coast escape the relegation zone, with Changchun Yatai only three points away.
Beijing Guoan is fourth with 51 points from 22 games, 12 wins, 4 draws and 6 losses, and is 11 points behind third Chengdu Rongcheng with one less round of matches, and 6 points more than Shandong's fifth Taishan. At the end of the season, the Imperial Guards are likely to be fourth.
Qingdao West Coast won 1, drew 2 and lost 1 in the last 4 rounds, not a bad record, just unstable.
Beijing Guoan won 2 and lost 2 of the last 4 rounds, again inconsistently, with a big gap between home and away games, winning both home games and losing both away games.
Prior to this, the two sides have already met twice, last year's AFC Cup 1/8 final, Qingdao West Coast lost 1:4 at home to Beijing Guoan, and this year's Chinese Super League 7th round, Beijing Guoan lost 4 at home. : 1 win for Qingdao West Coast.
In this match, both sides are likely to "harmonize". Shao will definitely want to beat his old employer for 3 points, but his strength won't allow him to do so; Beijing Guoan is stronger, but their record on the road is obviously not as good as at home, and the team's performance is unstable.
