A suspenseful first leg of the 2021 CFA Cup Quarter-Finals will kick off in Dalian on the afternoon of October 23rd, with four exciting matches to be played over the two days of the weekend. Wuhan's clash with Shandong Taishan will undoubtedly be the most talked about, and Li Xiaopeng, who is leading the team to challenge his former hosts, revealed at the pre-match press conference that the team's form has improved significantly after the two AFC Cup matches, and that the whole team will go all out to meet the challenge.
Faced with the old hosts of the FA Cup 8, Li Xiaopeng expressed great respect for Shandong Taishan, "Whether it is the current Shandong Taishan, or once Luneng Taishan, has always been the place where I play, my coaching career has provided great help. In this game, we will give our best to show the audience that we are qualified to participate in this game." Wuhan played with an all-Chinese squad in their first two AFC Cup matches, with two foreigners, Rafael and Lopez, having returned to China and completed their quarantine. Li Xiaopeng expects them to return for the next match and adapt to the playing conditions as soon as possible. Wuhan is still expected to play with a full Chinese squad in the first leg of this F.A.C.A. Cup quarterfinal.
Shandong Taishan has a more complete lineup of five foreign aiders, the face of the match with Li Xiaopeng's duel, Taishan manager Hao Wei said, "I have had cooperation with the director of the Li, each other very well, I hope that we can better learn and study the tactics, and contribute to the development of the national football team." Talking about the way to win the game, Hao Wei emphasized that the team needs to create more scoring opportunities and improve the efficiency of the attack.
According to the established schedule, the match between Wuhan and Shandong Taishan will start first at 3:30 p.m. on the 23rd, followed by the match between Henan Songshan Longmen and Sichuan Jiuniu at 7:30 p.m. The two matches to be played at the same time on the 24th will be Shanghai Shenhua versus Shenzhen, and Dalian People against Shanghai Harbor.
