At 19:30 Beijing time on June 30, 2022, the seventh round of the first stage of the Chinese Super League, a key battle between Beijing Guoan and Chengdu Rongcheng began. Both sides are eager to win, with Guoan looking forward to a double victory against the promoted team that has drawn four consecutive matches. How will coach Xie Feng's rotation strategy work? Can Zhang Yuning continue his four-round scoring streak? Can Guoan rediscover their ability to shut out their opponents? Can Chengdu's foreigners break their goal drought? These questions will be the key to the game.
History Crossfire:
The two teams have met twice before, with Guoan keeping a clean sheet. The most recent meeting took place in the second round of the season, where Guoan beat their opponents 3-2 with goals from Jin Pengxiang, Memishevich and Zhang Yuning. Chengdu's Feng Zhuoyi scored two goals, but three players were sent off with red cards during the match.
Beijing Guoan:
Despite an unexpected loss to Cangzhou in the first round of the tournament, Guoan is undefeated in the last five rounds of matches, with 11 points and a lot of momentum. Facing Chengdu, a team they have not been able to beat so far in this division, Guoan will naturally hope to achieve a double kill and get three solid points. The team's recent problem is that the players are tired and the starting lineup has been playing continuously, Xie Feng only made one change to the starting lineup in the last round. In the face of weaker opponents, Xie has clearly proposed a certain degree of rotation: "The game has gone on for six rounds, our main changes are not too big, but the players are more tired, there are also some injuries, we may make some adjustments in this game. Adebenelo's injury situation is not optimistic and his recovery is slow."
The rotation strategy of Guoan team will be directly related to the win or loss of the game. As Guoan's striker Adebenelo has not recovered from his injury, Zhang Yuning, who leads the Chinese Super League's top scorer list with 6 goals, will continue to take on the heavy responsibility of scoring goals. Zhang has scored in three consecutive rounds and it will be interesting to see if he can continue his scoring momentum in this campaign. In addition, Guoan has conceded goals in three consecutive rounds of matches, and Xie, who is a defender, will need to find a way to get his team back to shutting out opponents.
Chengdu Hibiscus:
Chengdu, who have won four straight draws since their last loss to Guoan, have failed to break the winning stalemate, but their successive point-grabbing performances are worthy of recognition among the Chinese Super League's newcomers. Facing Guoan, they naturally want to open a three-point account on the strongest opponent in the division. After all, the last time they met, they only lost by 1 goal despite being sent off three times. At the pre-match conference, South Korean coach Seo Jung-won wanted his players to play with their own characteristics: "Beijing Guoan is a strong team, and we've spent the last two days getting to know their characteristics, but no matter who we play, it's more important to do well for ourselves. Our players have put in a lot of hard work and sweat, and their strength is not bad. I think as long as we play with our own characteristics and strength, we will not be afraid of any opponent."
Chengdu's set-pieces and crosses from the wings are the mainstay of their offense, and they do pose a certain threat. The problem for the team is that all five goals have come from local players, and the five internal and external supporters who have appeared on the pitch have failed to score so far. If they want to beat the powerful Guoan team, the foreign attackers represented by Felipe Silva must play at their normal level and create a bigger threat to Guoan's unstable defense.
Predicted debut:
Beijing Guoan (3412): 14-Zou Dehai; 28-Zhang Chengdong, 3-Yu Yang, 36-Liang Shaowen (U23); 18-Jin Taiyan, 5-Memishevich, 6-Chi Zhongguo, 17-Kang Xiangyou; 10-Zhang Xizhe; 30-Daburo, 9-Zhang Yuning
Chengdu Rongcheng (3421): 1-Geng Xiaofeng; 40-Windbichler, 5-Hu Ruibao, 26-Liu Tao; 2-Hu Huotao (U23), 6-Feng Zhuoyi, 8-Zhou Dingyang, 20-Abdu Hemiti; 10-Romulo, 11-Jin Dangyou; 9-Felipe
