Under the starlight of the city of Jiangyin, a fierce soccer feast is about to kick off at the Sports Center on April 29th at 6pm. Wuhan will challenge a strong Shanghai Shenhua team for the honor of playing in the second round of the 2021 Chinese Super League season. Before the match, Wuhan's head coach Li Xiaopeng confidently declared, "The players have been training with all their might in the past few days, and we will go all out to win the match against Shenhua!"
Looking back at the past four meetings between the two teams, Wuhan has yet to taste victory with three draws and one loss. Under the guidance of Korean coach Choi Kang-hee, Shenhua plays a more solid game. Faced with reporters asking how to deal with the Shenhua team's man-to-man tactics, Li Xiaopeng said: "I think they are not a simple man-to-man tactics, even three years ago, Hoffenheim also used a similar tactic, in fact, there are still two players responsible for the protection of the other eight players have a clear task, although it is not particularly difficult to cope with, but we still need to seek a breakthrough in a little. "
In the first match, Evra, who didn't return to the team until just before the game, helped Wuhan equalize with a header, earning the team its first points of the new season. Meanwhile, Mbia also came on as a substitute. Regarding whether these two foreign aiders have the conditions to start, Li Xiaopeng responded: "They have no problem to start, but it is uncertain how long they can play." As for the newly joined injury number Huang Zichang, Li Xiaopeng said he has a slight back injury.
Before the match, Wuhan released a pre-match poster with the theme "The sound of wind and rain at night", expressing their determination to win. In the poster, they wrote: "Looking up at the sun, we are not afraid of the wind and rain. On the banks of the Yangtze River, we strive to be the wind and rain of our opponents. Listen! This is the sound from Wuhan!"
Shanghai Shenhua opened the first round of the tournament with a 2-1 win over Beijing Guoan in a tough match. Moreno scored a brace and Wu Xi, who is back at Shenhua, also scored. In terms of strength, Shenhua's team has many international players and powerful foreign aiders, which is obviously better than Wuhan's team. Against Wuhan, Cui Kangxi and his Shenhua team naturally expect to win twice in a row.
In the pre-match press conference, Choi Kang-hee said, "The victory in the first round has boosted the team's morale, but I hope the players will not be complacent. The players are well-prepared for the match and Wuhan is a strong team, so we hope to continue the good momentum by continuing to win in the second round."
Regarding the team's possible complacency, Choi Kang-hee said, "Complacency and self-confidence are two different concepts, the players need to be confident and as long as they don't make any mistakes, we are not afraid of any opponent. Although Wuhan and Guoan have different characteristics, we need to be positive in facing Wuhan." Peng Xinli, as a representative of the players, said, "In the past two days, the whole team has focused on physical recovery and targeted training for the characteristics of the opponents. Wuhan team strength is not bad, this game will be very difficult, we will meet the challenge with 100% fighting spirit!"
