As the Chinese Super League bids farewell to the prosperous "Golden Dollar Era", Guangzhou Evergrande has suffered an unprecedented decline and has been reduced to a member of the Central League.2023 season, the Guangzhou team has suffered a lot of difficulties in the beginning of the season, the first seven rounds of matches, only 2 draws and 5 losses of the embarrassing record. To make matters worse, they lost 5 consecutive matches and were once relegated to the bottom of the table alongside Wuxi Wuhu. However, Guangzhou did not let this discourage them, and they gradually adapted to the intensity and rhythm of the China First Division, with a group of young U-series players emerging in the process, adding hope to Evergrande's road to fame.
Evergrande Football School has gone through 10 years since its establishment. According to Xu Jiayin's planning, the results of 10 years are now finally beginning to show. In the past five years or so, Evergrande's ladder team has won many successes in Chinese leagues at all levels, and has many strengths of ace ladder team, and now the time has come to emerge. This season, almost all of Evergrande's U21 ladder team represented Guangzhou in the Central League, and they have shown potential as players on par with the American ladder team.
It is worth mentioning that Cheng Yaodong had led the national youth team to fight for two seasons in the Central League B, once falling into the relegation group. Guangzhou, on the other hand, has launched a counterattack in the Central League A with a team of U21 players. Currently, Guangzhou has won three consecutive matches in the 13th round of the Central League. In this round, Guangzhou defeated Yanbian Longding with a score of 2-0, in which the young players showed their efficient attacking means.
Coach Suai Salvador used a 343 formation with three strikers, Bugra Khan Skandanar, Ling Jie and Wang Shijie, four midfielders, Abdulwaha Ainwal, Hou Yu, Liao Jintao and Palmanjiang Kayumu, three center backs, Feng Yifan, Wang Wenxuan and Wang Shilong, and goalkeeper Huo Shenping. The average age of the starting 11 is 21.4 years old, and the substitutes include national youth captain Efirdin Eskal, Yang Hao, Liu Langzhou, Li Jiahao and Zhang Zili.
Guangzhou's young players have accumulated rich experience in national team matches, and their strength and potential are both guaranteed, so they are more capable of seizing opportunities in the game. Guangzhou quickly took the lead in the 12th minute of the match, launching a quick counterattack from the backfield. Ling Jie sent a precise pass forward from the right side of the road, and then broke through to the penalty area with the ball and finished the blast shot with exquisite skills to give Guangzhou a 1-0 lead. In the 80th minute, Bugra Khan sent the ball into the net with a one-touch shot in front of the goal, and Guangzhou beat Yanbian Longding 2-0 and successfully won the match for the third consecutive time. Prior to that, they had beaten their opponents 2-1 in Lushan, Jiangxi Province, and won 4-1 in Tengyue, Dandong.
Throughout the game, Canton had 50% possession, 13-12 shots on goal, and 6-3 shots on goal, resulting in a 2-0 victory. Despite the win, Guangzhou still had teething problems during the game. The team's number one player and national youth captain Efirdin Eskal, who returned from Europe this season, performed poorly and failed to integrate into the team. The substitutes have made frequent appearances and played alone, a far cry from his performance in the Asian Youth Championships. Efirdin needs time to adjust his form, after all, he didn't get too many chances to play for Swedish side Mjallby. If Efirdin can quickly integrate into the team, I believe the strength of the Guangzhou team will be higher.
On the table, Guangzhou bucked the trend after three consecutive victories and are temporarily ranked 10th in the Central League with 16 points. But they still need to work hard in order to be promoted. The top two teams in the table (promotion zone) are currently 10 points ahead of Guangzhou, with the top two in order being Guangxi Pingguo with 28 points and Sichuan Jiuniu with 26 points.
