In the afternoon of May 11th, the fourth round of the Sino League saw a fierce battle between Wuhan's Guizhou and Heilongjiang Bingcheng. In a heart-stopping matchup, Guizhou suffered their first loss of the new season after their defense was broken by a swift counterattack at a crucial moment, while Heilongjiang Bingcheng managed to get their second win of the new season with this victory, and are expected to achieve a significant improvement in their ranking.
Highlights Recap:
In the first half, Heilongjiang attacked more and more fiercely, but overall it showed a situation of siege but difficult to break through, especially in Guizhou's penalty area, the attack appeared to be incompetent. Although the Heilongjiang team continued to apply pressure and created some threats, but the key moment of a shot on goal always looked weak. Guizhou, on the other hand, mainly adopted a defensive counter-attack strategy, approaching the game with a cautious attitude, ensuring a solid defense first, and then dealing a fatal blow to the opponent when the time was ripe. Although Guizhou didn't perform well on the offensive end and the situation was a bit passive, they still created some weak threats on set-pieces.
Both sides failed to score in the first half, but the stalemate did not last long in the second half as Heilongjiang broke the deadlock. In the 59th minute, Heilongjiang goalkeeper Qi Yuxi kicked the ball out to the front, Guizhou's defenders failed to get in position in time, creating an opening, Evolo took this opportunity to quickly kill the penalty area, a heavy shot into the net. This was the first time Guizhou conceded a goal in this season's Central League, and also the first time they suffered a deficit. After that, Guizhou team fought back with all their might, but unfortunately the continuous attacks failed to change the score, and finally suffered their first defeat in this season's Central League.
Full Time Score: Guizhou 0-1 Heilongjiang Bingcheng
Technical Statistics and Formation Analysis:
Postgame Review:
It is to some extent surprising that Guizhou kept a clean sweep in the first three rounds of matches and topped the table; after all, Guizhou is restricted by the transfer ban and has a relatively aging team lineup. With the restrictions on reinforcements, Guizhou is indeed facing a huge challenge, especially with the aging of the squad. In the first half of this season's Central League, Guizhou relied on the experience of its veterans to compete for points. In the middle and latter half of the season, as the veterans' fitness declined, the team began to rotate, giving younger players more opportunities to work out; and at the same time, it is expected that a number of players will be able to stand out to meet the challenges of the next season and the one after that.
The goals conceded by Guizhou in this round of matches were more or less negligent, with Heilongjiang's long passes penetrating directly into the half, the defense failing to control them in time, and substitute goalkeeper Wang Zhuo's reaction being slightly slow. Overall, Guizhou needs to be especially careful in the first half of the game, and the loss of such a game is mainly due to the lack of grasping their own chances, as well as carelessness in defense. If Guizhou fails to accumulate enough points in the first half of the season, it will be easy to have continuity problems in the fatigue period of the second half of the season.
