As one of the fastest growing teams in the season, Chengdu Rongcheng has stood out from the stronger Shandong Taishan, Beijing Guoan and Wuhan Sanzhen teams, and has continuously maintained its position in the top three of the table. Recently, Chengdu Rongcheng's results have fluctuated. After the serious injury of No.10 core player Romulo, the team slumped significantly and suffered an avalanche of 2 consecutive losses in the 14th and 15th rounds of the Chinese Super League in succession. It wasn't until the 16th round match that Chengdu Rongcheng stopped the avalanche and beat Henan 2-0, thus joining the title race. Currently, they have 30 points and are in the 3rd position in the Chinese Super League, only 4 points less than the first place Shanghai Harbor for the time being.
In the second half, Chengdu Rongcheng confirmed a strong lineup and great changes. On the one hand, we should strengthen the rotation to prevent one set of lineup from defeating the world, resulting in a lack of strength; on the other hand, we should introduce new assistance to fill the holes left by Romulo's injury and stabilize the system of 5 foreigners. In the 16th round of the game, Xu Zhengyuan chose to increase the time of the substitutes on the field, the starting lineup has not been adjusted too much, Ickerson, Felipe, Palacios partnering the trident, Tang Xin, Zhou Dingyang, Feng Zhuoyi, Tang Miao partnering the four central midfielders, Liu Tao, Wendy Bishil, Yang Yiming partnering the three center backs, goalkeeper Geng Xiaofeng. Mutalifu, Hu Hotao, Hu Ruibao, Dong Yanfeng, Tang Chuang five substitutes.
Chengdu Rongcheng completed their substitutions early in the first half. In the 27th minute, Eckerson was replaced by Mutalifu due to an injury, but the two teams kept the score 0-0 until the end of the first half. In the second half, Chengdu Rongcheng launched a strong offense. In the 51st minute of the match, Tang Miao penalized a set piece in front of the goal. Zhou Dingyang finished the set piece with a grabbing header to give Chengdu Rongcheng a 1-0 lead.
In the 68th minute of the match, national youth scorer Wang Mutalifu made a huge offensive efficiency at the Asian Youth Championship. He played the ball at the top of the arc in the penalty area. After the assist, Tang Xin shot a defender with one foot and reflected it into the net. Chengdu Rongcheng beat Henan 2-0 and the score remained the same until the end of the match.
In the whole game, Chengdu Rongcheng had only 45% possession but attacked like a tidal wave with 17 shots, 4 shots on goal and 2 goals; Henan had only 6 shots on goal and 0 shots on goal in the whole game and was shut out by zero. Tang Miao was the best player in the game. He completed 6 key passes and got 1 assist. He can be called the engine of the offense. He scored 7.5 points and was the highest scorer in the game. Tang Xin got 7.0 points and Zhou Dingyang got 7.2 points.
After the game, Chengdu Rongcheng's head coach Xu Zhengyuan attended the press conference. He emphasized the difficult aspects of the game and said that the team is currently in the exhaustion stage and everyone is physically exhausted. However, he also praised the team's performance in this game, showing the spirit of unity and showing the desire to win. He hopes the team can maintain this form. Next, to stay in the title contention ladder, Chengdu Rongcheng need to target reinforcements and avoid fatigue by rotating their lineup.
