In the third round of the AFC Elite League on October 23, Seaports defeated Central Coast Mariners 3-2 in a thrilling match to usher in their first win of the season. Sports Weekly's reporter Ma Dexing pointed out in an opinion piece that Harbour's lineup adjustments for this match were quite far-sighted.
Facing the challenge of the Central Coast Mariners, the Seaports boldly made a big rotation in their starting lineup. Although the four core players - Yan Junling, Wei Zhen, Oscar and Gustavo - as well as Wu Lei, who returned to the team not long ago, continued to start, all other positions were taken up by substitutes. This rotation is the largest in this season's AFC Champions League for Shanghai Port.
The passive substitutions stemmed from Roussa's additional ban from AFC, forcing Harbour to adjust their lineup. Behind the active substitutions, key players such as Vargas and Chitardini were placed on the bench. At the beginning of the match, Harbour's rotating players performed quite well, and even in some periods, the high-pressure pressing and quick counter-attacking ability of the midfield exceeded that of the starting lineup.
The opponent, Central Coast Mariners, is in poor form, with only 6 foreigners and the remaining 5 are all young players born after '01. Facing such an opponent, Harbor's rotation strategy is especially wise.
The Super League title race has entered a white-hot stage. In the match against Sungai, Harbour did not make any rotation, leading to much talk after the loss. Some questioned why the team did not make any changes to their personnel given the tight schedule. In fact, Seaport was not unwilling to rotate, but due to the tough situation in the title race, they could only send their strongest team to deal with the key battles, especially when the AFC Champions League matches were going on simultaneously.
The current AFC Champions League and Chinese Super League fixtures are not synchronized, with the AFC Champions League having just begun while the domestic league is nearing its end. Therefore, it is understandable that the Harbour Team will focus on the domestic league. It would also be reasonable for Shenhua to rotate their squad. Neither Harbour nor Shenhua should be accused of being "strong domestically and weak internationally".
Meanwhile, Taishan went all out against Yokohama Marinos but fielded a rotation of players in last weekend's league match. This may have something to do with their lack of hope of winning the Chinese Super League, or even qualifying for the AFC Champions League. With the domestic league format unchanged, Super League teams make adjustments according to the actual situation and need not be overly alarmed by one or two wins or losses.
