In the late afternoon of May 30, Chengdu Rongcheng started a goal feast against Kunshan in the 8th round of the 2021 season of the Central League, initially leading 2-0, only to be overtaken by Kunshan at one point, 3-2, at the end of the day. Fortunately, the team was not deterred and quickly tied the game at 3-3. Despite the highlights of the game, the defense, especially against set-pieces, was a major weakness of the team, and the 3-3 result leaves Chengdu Rongcheng without a win for the third consecutive round, and the team is currently in the fifth place of the Central League table with 15 points, and if Nantong Zhiyun beats BeiShiDa tonight, Chengdu Rongcheng's ranking will drop even further.
Xu Zhengyuan suffered a "crisis of confidence".
Fans worry about the "Afternoon Curse".
In the first stage of the Dalian tournament, Chengdu Rongcheng won four games and drew one, topping the Central League standings, scoring 13 goals in five games, with a strong attacking force. However, after entering the second stage, Chengdu Rongcheng lost one after another, first 0-2 against Jiangxi Beidamen, and then 0-0 draw with promotion rival Nanjing City in the last round.
With only 1 draw and 1 loss in two relatively weak matches, and no goals scored in two consecutive rounds, Chengdu Rongcheng has fallen out of the promotion zone in the rankings. In the 8th round, Zhejiang beat leader Meizhou Hakka 5-4 and Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic beat Xinjiang Tianshan Xuebao 1-0, which made Chengdu Rongcheng slipped to the fifth place in the table with one game less and the situation is not optimistic.
Chengdu Rongcheng was in a bad situation when they encountered another tough battle - their opponent in this round, Kunshan, was the only opponent they failed to beat in the first stage of the Dalian tournament. In the first leg, Chengdu Rongcheng was 0-1 down for a long time, but only equalized in the 88th minute with Leonardo's world-beating hook to get a thrilling point. In this match, Kunshan's tough defense caused Chengdu Rongcheng a lot of trouble, and if not for captain and right back Zhang Chenglin leaving the field with an injury early in the second half, Chengdu Rongcheng might not have been able to complete the tie.
In fact, Chengdu Rongcheng also had a difficult match against Kunshan in last year's Central League, when the two teams drew 1-1 in the second round of the Super League. The match ended Chengdu Rongcheng's three-game winning streak in the league and was a major turning point in the team's eventual loss.
In the last round of the Nanjing City, many Chengdu fans have been forced to draw, Xu Zhengyuan's strategy and command of the two games have been questioned. For the first time suffered a "crisis of confidence" Xu Zhengyuan said after the game, the first half missed a good opportunity to break the goal, resulting in the second half of the game is very difficult, "today only get a point, we are certainly not very satisfied, the other side of the defense did a good job, the next we will be more for the intensive defense situation, to adjust the offense." Before the match against Kunshan, Xu Zhengyuan said, "It was a pity to meet in the first round, we had a goal blown away in the first half, but the players didn't give up. When we meet Kunshan for the second time, we will make adjustments to some of the problems we had earlier, and if we can score first, we should get a better result."
It is worth mentioning that this round of Chengdu Rongcheng and Kunshan team's game is scheduled to be played in the afternoon, which also makes many Chengdu fans feel worried - the previous thrilling draw with the Kunshan team, the cold loss to the North Gate of Jiangxi Province, two games are in the afternoon, while in the evening game, Chengdu Rongcheng is undefeated with 4 wins and 1 draw.
Leading, trailing and tying.
Chengdu Rongcheng and Kunshan join forces in goal battle
However, Xu Zhengyuan did not make any false claims before the match, Chengdu Rongcheng's preparation for the match against Kunshan was very adequate, although the midfielder Wu Guichao was still out of the match due to injury, but the three midfielders consisting of Feng Zhuoyi, Gan Chao, and He Xin were obviously more fluent than the previous round, together with Leonardo and Liu Ruowan vanadium who took turns to pull back to get the ball and receive, Chengdu Rongcheng's center midfield was once again restored to vitality. Leonardo tested Peng Peng with a long-distance shot in the opening half. In the 6th minute, Han Guanghui crossed the ball from the right road, and Feng Zhuoyi and Liu Ruofan "double ghosts beat the door", and finally Feng Zhuoyi threw his head in front of the goal to break the door, opening the door to victory for Chengdu Rongcheng, and clearing the haze of two consecutive rounds of being shut out by the opponents.
However, Kunshan, trailing 0-1, also threatened Chengdu Rongcheng with the impact of powerful foreigner Berto. But Chengdu Rongcheng resisted the pressure and extended their lead with another header. In the 34th minute, Leonardo created a free kick from the edge of the penalty area on the left side, and Feng Zhuoyi took the penalty and crossed the ball in front of the goal, where unmarked Liu Ruowan easily headed in another goal, and he also scored his fifth goal of the season. In the first half of extra time, Kunshan used a free kick in front of the goal to create confusion in Chengdu Rongcheng's penalty area, and Feng Boyuan turned and shot the ball into the goal to equalize a point for Kunshan.
At the beginning of the second half, the two sides started a fierce confrontation, and both created a threat to the opponent's goal. In the 58th minute, Kunshan team got a corner kick opportunity, goalkeeper Zhang Yino counter-attack error, was Feng Boyuan again seized the opportunity to head the goal, the score will be 2-2, into the soccer team from the last season let the headache of the set piece defense once again appeared problems. In the 60th minute, Liu Ruowan vanadium header from a free kick, but was invalidated for offside.
In the 62nd minute, Cui Peng, captain of Kunshan team, put down Leonardo, who was about to form a one-two, and was sent off with a red card. After that, Xu Zhengyuan sent in Hu Mingri, Liu Chaoyang, Yang Zexiang and other substitutes one after another, plus in order to regain the lead in the situation of outnumbered, the team also pressed forward, which gave Kunshan a great opportunity to play counterattack. In the 78th minute, the Kunshan team backfield long pass, Berto in the body position does not occupy the advantage of the situation forced to overtake Yang Zexiang, Yang Zexiang has just come on the field obviously has not found the feeling of the game, watched the crazy sprinting Berto formed a single knife, Zhang Yino face each other's shot can not be helped, less than one person of the Kunshan team 3 to 2 reverse lead.
Chengdu Rongcheng players did not lose their morale after losing 3 goals in a row. In the 82nd minute, Feng Zhuoyi kicked off a corner kick, and center back Liu Tao smashed a header in front of Kunshan's goal, and strongly leveled the score at 3-3! 1 minute later, Liu Chaoyang's tricky left-footed long-distance shot was bravely blocked by Peng Peng. In the 84th minute, Leonardo's pass from the right breakthrough hit the heel of the opponent's defender and bounced towards the goal, and Peng Peng, the goalkeeper of Kunshan, reacted quickly and pressed the ball on the goal line. In the 90th minute, Chengdu Rongcheng still had the chance to overtake the score, but Hu Mingri failed to touch the ball when he took a pass from the right side of the road and parried the ball in the middle of the road.
