Brazilian striker Thiago (center) will headline Guangzhou City's second-stage starting lineup.
Preparing for the second phase of the Super League tournament
The Chinese Football Association (CFA) officially announced the schedule for the second phase of the Chinese Super League (CSL) this season, which will officially kick off on December 12 and run until January 4, 2022, late yesterday afternoon. This marks the first time in the history of the Chinese Super League across the years of the season.
The three Guangdong teams in the Guangzhou region have been preparing for the match with relative ease as they don't need to worry about relegation. Guangzhou City, which is currently in eighth place, continues to prepare for the game with high intensity at its base in University City. Club chairman Huang Shenghua revealed that the team is aiming for the sixth place.
-New Express reporter Wang Enemy
Ranking Status
After Chengdu Rongcheng knocked Guangzhou City out of the F.A.C. Cup in mid-October, Guangzhou City has been in a no-match situation since mid-August. In order to keep up with the competition, members of the team had to return to their base for training. Although the team's salary was suspended in September due to financial problems, the team's preparation was not affected.
Huang Shenghua revealed that the team has been training as usual for the past two months. "After all, this is the first time we have encountered salary arrears, but the general environment is such that we can understand," Huang Shenghua said, "If I say the team's morale is still high, we also know that I am lying." Huang Shenghua emphasized that the salary arrears are only temporary, and the club will pay back wages as soon as possible.
In fact, since 2016, R&F has adjusted its business strategy, "cashing out" some of the older, higher-salaried players, and paying more attention to practicality in the introduction of internal and external reinforcements. Huang Shenghua said, Guangzhou City this year's South American trio overall annual salary of 2.5 million euros - Guilherme's annual salary of 1.1 million euros, Caldona and Tiago's annual salary of 1 million and 400,000 euros respectively.
At the moment, completing the second phase of the Chinese Super League (CSL) competition does not seem to be a problem, despite the uncertainty surrounding the club's shareholding reform. On the table, Guangzhou City (21 points) is temporarily in eighth place, one point less than ninth-placed Shanghai Shenhua (22 points), but according to the current rules, Guangzhou City will remain in eighth place at worst. Huang Shenghua said the team will give more chances to newcomers in the last eight rounds of the tournament, striving to move up the rankings and hit the top six.
Outside double shot to support the field
Due to a number of factors, Guangzhou City will be without a number of key players in the second phase of the tournament, including the core of foreign and internal players. Guangzhou City head coach Van Garst will tap the potential internally to provide more opportunities for the newcomers to showcase their talents.
Dembele and Guilherme are reported to have returned to the team by September. Guilherme was unable to return to the team due to visa issues, while Dembele took the initiative to request not to participate in the second phase of the tournament. Currently, Guangzhou City has only two foreigners, Brazilian center forward Thiago and Colombian striker Caldona, and these two attackers have been in good form recently. In the recent warm-up match with Shenzhen, Thiago and Caldona helped Guangzhou City to beat the opponent by 4:0. In the second phase of the Chinese Super League, Guangzhou City will rely on this pair of foreign aid "double gun" to charge into battle.
Future mergers unlikely
A few days ago, Guangzhou City's former manager Van Bronckhorst just took over as head coach of Scottish Premier League giants Rangers, with almost all of Guangzhou City's coaching team from last year joining Rangers. Van Bronckhorst's partner Van Garst is also under the spotlight.
Huang Shenghua revealed that van Garst will not be traveling to Scotland and will lead the team through the rest of the season. Earlier this year, Van Garst signed a one-year contract with Guangzhou City with an annual salary of 900,000 euros, and the cooperation was so pleasant that both sides have the intention to renew their contracts. In addition, Guangzhou City is also in the development of player contract renewal program, the main lineup of six or seven players are expected to renew their contracts. For the outside world concerned about the future merger of the two teams in Guangzhou, Huang Shenghua that the possibility is not great, he said: "The two clubs are independent legal persons, the significance of the merger is not great, the operational feasibility is less than fifty percent."
