On June 23rd, at the Pearl of the Orient, the 2021 AFC Champions League playoffs resumed with Shanghai Seaport meeting Kaya in a surprisingly close match, with Seaport suffering a 0-1 defeat, with Menji's header in the 17th minute opening the door for Kaya to win. With this loss, Shanghai Harbor bids farewell to the AFC Champions League, leaving only Guangzhou and Beijing Guoan in the Chinese Super League to continue their campaign.
Looking back at the past season, Shanghai Seaport finished 4th in the Chinese Super League to make it to the AFC Champions League, filling the void left by Suning's title win. Although Seaport is playing with a substitute lineup, the prospects for advancement don't look promising against Kaya of the Philippines.
In the course of the match, Kaya firmly controlled the rhythm of the game by virtue of its absolute superiority in strength. In the 17th minute, Kaya got a corner kick opportunity, the ball crossed the sky, Menji grabbed the header in the penalty area and made a precise header to lock the score at 1-0, which put the harbor in a passive position.
In the second half of the match, Harbour players tried their best but could not break Kaya's defense. After 90 minutes of intense fighting, both sides could not make any progress, and finally Harbour lost 0-1.
Shanghai Seaport starting lineup for this match: 35- Guo Tong, 23- Fu Huan, 24- Lei Wenjie, 29- Nie Meng, 45- Zhu Jiayi, 48- Zhang Eng, 50- Qianhao, 31- Gao Haisheng, 44- Zheng Zelong, 47- Zhou Zheng, 39- Hu Jinghang.
Kaya's starting lineup for the match: 25-Louis Casas, 4-Shinya Omura, 15-Marco Kasambre, 19-Carlisle Mitchell, 23-Simone Rota, 44-Oddi Menji, 8-Marwin Angelis, 14-Ryo Fujii, 21-Dylan De Bruycker, 7-Jovin Bedic, 20-Daizo Horikoshi.
