As night fell on July 15, the main event of the 14th round of the 2023 season of the Central League was staged: a summit clash between Qingdao West Coast and Guangzhou.
Guangzhou, the former Chinese Super League (CSL) dominant team that has now fallen to the China A-League, has twice won the AFC Champions League. And Qingdao West Coast, the newest force in Chinese professional soccer, will only step onto the China A-League stage for the first time in 2022.
Before the match, Qingdao West Coast was ranked fifth in the table with a record of 6 wins, 5 draws and 2 losses in 13 matches, with a difference of 5 points from Guangxi Pingguo at the top of the table, and a 3-point gap from Sichuan Jiuniu, which theoretically still has the possibility of overtaking the Chinese Super League. Guangzhou, on the other hand, ranked 10th with 13 wins, 4 draws and 5 losses, 11 points ahead of Shanghai Jiading Huilong in the relegation zone, and theoretically won't fall into the second division again after dropping from the Super League to the first division.
In the era when they had dominated the Chinese Super League and the AFC Champions League, Guangzhou's starting lineup consisted of local and international players as well as top foreigners, while now, they are more of a youth army of Evergrande Soccer Schools. Early in the season, Guangzhou struggled to keep winning for long. Three draws and five losses in the first eight rounds, and it wasn't until the ninth round when they beat Dongguan Guanlian 2:1 on the road that they had their first win of the season. Since then, their form has picked up, with 3 consecutive wins and 1 draw from the 10th to 13th rounds, and consecutive wins in the last three rounds. If we keep this form, Guangzhou is expected to return to the Chinese Super League at the end of the season, but there is still a 12-point gap with Guangxi Pingguo at the top of the table.
Next, let's focus on the starting lineups of Qingdao West Coast and Guangzhou.
Guangzhou started with a 451 formation, with Ling Jie as the single arrow up front, Wang Shijie, Bugrakhan Skandanar and Yang Hao in the midfield, Hou Yu and Zhang Zili in the double back, Abdulwahab, Liu Langzhou, Wang Wenxuan and Feng Yifan in the back four, and Huo Shenping in goal. The starting 11 is worth a total of €385,000 and has an average age of 20.6 years. Efirdin returned from abroad and sat on the bench.
Qingdao West Coast's starting formation was also 451, with Wesley in the center, Lei Wenjie, Guo Yi, Juan Ramirez, Feng Gang and Chen Bailiang in the midfield, and the four defenders were He Xiaoqiang, Ge Zhen, Liu Spectrum and Huang Jiaqiang, while the goalkeeper was Wang Qi. The total value of the starting 11 is worth a whopping 1.175 million euros.
As soon as the game started, the Everest Soccer Schools youth showed their disadvantage.
In the 13th minute of the match, Ramirez's shot was blocked by the goalkeeper, then the ball bounced into the net under Wang Wenxuan's foot, Qingdao West Coast 1:0 Guangzhou.
In the 37th minute, Qingdao West Coast crossed the ball from the left bottom line and Ramirez, who followed up in the middle, easily broke the goal, Qingdao West Coast 2:0 Guangzhou.
In the 40th minute, Ling Jie from the left sent a precise pass to the penalty area, and Bugra Khan scored with a header, Guangzhou 1:2 Qingdao West Coast.
In the 43rd minute, Ramirez took a pass from a teammate on the right in the box and had his shot parried by the goalkeeper, but then he finished over Wesley's head to make it 3:1 Guangzhou for Qingdao West Coast.
In the 78th minute, Wang Wenxuan's handball in the box was struck by Ramirez, Qingdao West Coast 4:1 Guangzhou.
Throughout the extra time, Efirdin scored a penalty kick, and finally Guangzhou was defeated by Qingdao West Coast 2:4.
After this battle, Qingdao West Coast moved up to the second place in the Central League table with 26 points in 14 rounds of matches and entered the super zone, but there is still a 2-point gap with top-ranked Guangxi Pingguo. Guangzhou, on the other hand, is still in 10th place with 16 points. The hope of returning to the Chinese Super League this season is slim, but at least they won't fall into the Chinese B League again.
