At the same moment of that night, Nanjing, the strongest team in the Central League, started a fierce battle with Chengdu Rongcheng. Nanjing, as the only team in the Central League in the top eight, is expected to be a spoiler in the tournament, which brings Chengdu Rongcheng a lot of pressure. Facing such an opponent, the barefoot Nanjing team is not afraid of the shoe-wearing Chengdu team. Although it was not easy to win the game, it was reasonable to lose. Fortunately, among the top three teams in the league, there is still a gap between Shandong Taishan and Guoan, so Chengdu Rongcheng does not have to worry about the pressure brought by the intensive schedule of double fronts.On August 22nd, at 19:35, Shenhua will face Beijing Guoan at home.
This will be the second derby match between Beijing and Shanghai in August, with the two teams meeting again after 17 days, following the August 4 showdown between Guoan and Shenhua in the 21st round of the Chinese Super League. With Shenhua's Manafa suffering a serious injury and only four foreigners left in the FA Cup, whether the Guoan manager can survive the quarterfinals will depend on the performance of the Chinese Super League and Shenhua. Shanghai Shenhua will be competing for the Super League title this year, while the match between Jinmen Tigers and Shanghai Port will be played at the same time. The winners of the two-day, four-match thriller will battle it out for a place in the last four, with the winners of the first and second halves going head-to-head.
Jinmen Tigers have been quite lucky this season. Originally, the team had half given up in the last round of the AFC Cup, but the victory through a tie and penalty shootout made Yu Genwei quite surprised. Moreover, with Jinmen Tigers' recent unstable form, the fight for the AFC Cup has become the team's important goal this year. Taishan's players such as Zeca, Cressan and Li Yuan are the key to win the cup. Chengdu Rongcheng is expected to field only Felipe, Romulo and Palacios due to foreign aid quota restrictions. Guoan will field their main lineup, while Shanghai Shenhua will need to make adjustments accordingly based on player injuries. The winner of the AFC Cup will directly qualify for next season's AFC Champions League, an extremely valuable spot.
