As the main round of the FA Cup approaches in the middle of the year, Shenhua have been preparing for the match in a tight schedule. This afternoon, they faced the Tianjin Jinmen Tigers in an intense warm-up match at their Kangqiao base. Zeng Cheng, who suffered two broken ribs against Hebei in the fourth round of the league, finally returned to full blood and made his debut in the match after a four-month-long healing period.
It is reported that the first two rounds of this season's F.A.C.A. Cup regular season will implement a single-game elimination system. For this reason, Shenhua and Tianjin Jinmen Tiger in today's warm-up match, the two sides negotiated in the half-time break after the penalty shootout, so as to simulate the possible penalty shootout. At the same time, in view of the first round of the AFC Cup may encounter the Central League team, the two sides agreed that each half can only send two foreign aiders on the field.
In the first half, both sides failed to break through each other's goal and ended in a 0:0 draw. In the penalty shootout, Shenhua lost to Tianjin Jinmen Tiger 2:4. In the second half, Tianjin Jinmenhu's Shi Yan scored first, and Shenhua equalized with a penalty kick by Adrian at the end of the game. Shenhua won 4:3 in the extra penalty kicks in the second half. In each of the two halves, acting head coach Mao Yijun fielded two different lineups. The return of Zeng Cheng after a long layoff will be a big boost to Shenhua's bid to win this season's AFC Cup, and on September 29th, Shenhua will play another match against Tianjin Jinmen Tigers.
In addition, the draw for the main round of this season's F.A.C.A. Cup will be held on September 29, when Shenhua's first-round opponents will be revealed. Currently, a number of teams such as Guangzhou and Hebei are suffering from financial problems, the main players of Guangzhou, Beijing Guoan and Shandong Luneng have been called up by the national team, and Shanghai Harbour's Oscar and Lopez have been injured in training, making the foreign aid lineup unstable. From the point of view of staffing, Shenhua still has a certain degree of competitiveness in this season's AFC Cup title race.
