At 19:30, on the night of June 30th in the capital, the 7th round of the 1st stage of the Chinese Super League (CSL) comes to a climax with the showdown between Beijing Guoan and Chengdu Rongcheng. In this matchup between the undefeated Imperial Army of 5 rounds and the promoted team with 4 consecutive draws, Guoan is eager to achieve a double kill, and will Coach Xie Feng's tactical adjustments work? Can Zhang Yuning continue his scoring momentum? Will Guoan be able to repeat the glory of shutting out their rivals? Can the Chengdu foreigner break his goal drought? All these are the focus of the game.
Review the history of the encounter:
The two teams have met twice in the past, with Guoan winning all of them. The most recent clash took place in the second round of the season, where Guoan turned back Chengdu 3-2 with goals from Jin Pengxiang, Memishevich and Zhang Yuning, with Feng Zhuoyi scoring twice for Chengdu, who saw three players see red.
Beijing Guoan:
Despite the unexpected defeat in the first round, Guoan is undefeated in the last 5 rounds and has a strong momentum with 11 points. Facing the weaker Chengdu, Guoan team naturally hoped to achieve a double kill and secure three points. However, Guoan has been facing problems of player fatigue and continuous fighting in the main lineup, and Coach Xie Feng only made a slight adjustment to the starting lineup in the last round. Facing a weaker opponent in this game, Xie plans to make a larger rotation: "After six rounds of matches, we have not changed much in our starting lineup, but with tired players and some injuries, we may make some adjustments in this game. Adebenelo's injury situation is not optimistic and his recovery is progressing slowly."
The effectiveness of Guoan's rotation will have a direct impact on the game. With Adeben Lo not yet recovered from his injury, Zhang Yuning, who leads the Chinese Super League's top scorer list, will have to shoulder the responsibility of scoring goals. Zhang has scored in 3 consecutive rounds, and it will be interesting to see if he can continue his scoring momentum in this game. In addition, Guoan's last 3 consecutive rounds of conceding goals, the defender Xie will need to consider how to get his team back to the feeling of shutting out their opponents.
Chengdu Hibiscus:
Chengdu's four consecutive draws since their last loss to Guoan failed to break the winning deadlock, but the successive point-grabbing performances are worthy of recognition for the Chinese Super League newcomers. Facing Guoan, they naturally want to open the door to victory over the division's strongest rival. South Korean coach Seo Jung-won said in the pre-match conference, "Beijing Guoan is a strong team and we are learning about their characteristics in the past two days, but no matter who the opponent is, it is more important to do well for ourselves. Our players have put in a lot of effort and their strength is not bad. I think as long as we play with our own characteristics and strength, we will not be afraid of any opponent."
Chengdu's set-pieces and two-winged passes are the main means of offense, and they do pose a certain threat to Guoan. However, Chengdu's five goals have all come from local players, and the five internal and external supporters have so far failed to produce any goals. If they want to beat the powerful Guoan team, the foreign attackers represented by Felipe Silva must play at their normal level and create a bigger threat to Guoan's unstable defense.
Predicted debut:
Beijing Guoan (3412): 14-Zou Dehai; 28-Zhang Chengdong, 3-Yu Yang, 36-Liang Shaowen (U23); 18-Jin Taiyan, 5-Memishevich, 6-Chi Zhongguo, 17-Kang Xiangyou; 10-Zhang Xizhe; 30-Daburo, 9-Zhang Yuning
Chengdu Rongcheng (3421): 1-Geng Xiaofeng; 40-Windbichler, 5-Hu Ruibao, 26-Liu Tao; 2-Hu Huotao (U23), 6-Feng Zhuoyi, 8-Zhou Dingyang, 20-Abdu Hemiti; 10-Romulo, 11-Jin Dangyou; 9-Felipe
