In the late afternoon of November 7th, the second round of the semi-finals of the FA Cup was rekindled. Shanghai Seaport and Shanghai Shenhua played out a 1-1 draw, with Seaport advancing to the final with a total score of 6-2, the second time in their team history that they have advanced to the final, where they will compete with Shandong Taishan for the glory of this season's F.A.C.A. Cup.
In the first round of the match, Shanghai Harbour won by a lopsided score of 5-1, setting up an advantage in the subsequent matches. Despite being underdogs on aggregate, Shanghai Shenhua stepped up their offense in the second round in an attempt to close the gap, but it seemed that fate was not on their side.
In the 21st minute, Yu Hanchao's header hit the crossbar and Shenhua missed a great chance to score. Shanghai Seaport, without Oscar, adopted a steady counter-attack strategy, and in the 55th minute, Liu Zhurun broke the deadlock. However, Wei Zhen was sent off with a red card in the 85th minute, and the numerically superior Shenhua team relied on Zhao Mingjian's 90th-minute goal to equalize the score at 1-1, but were still eliminated with a total score of 2-6.
Shanghai Shenhua head coach Mao Yijun regretted not advancing, "The big loss in the first round made advancing extremely difficult. Thanks to the players who fought until the last minute of the game, we didn't give up despite the delay in breaking through."
Shanghai Seaport head coach Leko was satisfied with his team's performance in the F.A.C. Cup. Seaport's 00-year-old Liu Zhurun scored in two consecutive matches to prove himself in the two rounds of the FFA Cup semi-finals, "For me, these two goals are very crucial because my career has just begun, and scoring goals can boost my self-confidence." Oscar congratulated his teammates on winning the second leg in a post match message, "F.A.C. Cup final, let's hit the new top together."
According to the previous schedule, the final of the AFC Cup will be played at the end of this season's Chinese Super League, with the exact time and venue of the match yet to be determined.
