On December 4, the 29th round of the Chinese Super League (CSL) was in full swing at the Jinjiang Sports Center stadium, but Guangzhou City suffered the ill-effects of a big rotation of the lineup, losing 1-2 to Shanghai SIPG, and suffering their seventh consecutive defeat.
With the intensive schedule of the Chinese Super League, Guangzhou City's lack of bench depth has become more and more obvious, which has brought great trouble to the team. After a 0-1 defeat against Tianjin Jinmen Tigers in the last round, the team has lost six consecutive matches. Relegation rival Wuhan Changjiang's relegation bonus due to salary arrears has been exhausted. In the face of consecutive losses, coach Li Weifeng said helplessly that the team's physical energy is overdrawn, and the winter training reserve can only support the players to fight for 65 minutes.
Prior to the match, the preparation of the Canton City team members was of interest.
In the upcoming next round of matches, Guangzhou City will have a crosstown derby against relegation rivals Guangzhou. As a result, Li Weifeng left most of the starters on the bench and sent five U23 players to start against Shanghai SIPG's full Chinese squad, with Wu Lei and Vargas joining forces. After three consecutive defeats, Lecco "stepped down" and Xi Zhikang took over as acting coach of Shanghai SIPG.
In the first half, all three goals from both sides occurred shortly after the start. In the 39th minute, Shanghai SIPG attacked from the left, Wu Lei's header hit the goal frame, and Vargas added the first goal. Two minutes later, Guangzhou City attacked from a corner kick and Wen Yongjun hit Wang Yiwei with a long-range shot, but the goal was eventually counted as an oolong goal for Shanghai SIPG. The situation changed again four minutes later when Vargas was tripped in the box and Wu Lei scored from the penalty spot to go over the line again.
Against Shanghai SIPG, who have a number of international players, Guangzhou City played a predominantly young side and spent most of the game passively defending in their half of the pitch. the shot ratio of 6-30 and the shots on goal statistic of 1-9 truly reflected the course of the game.
After the match, Li Weifeng said, "Although the score was a bit unfortunate, we could see the demands and ideas of every player on the pitch. Although the score is not satisfactory, I recognize every player for playing with Shanghai SIPG with such a score." In the second half, Li Weifeng even replaced 17-year-old Su Yuliang, "We have players born in 04 and 06, but they are not afraid of the opponent. We hope to win the next Guangzhou derby. Today's rotation is to get a good result in the next game."
