In a focus battle in the 18th round of the Chinese Super League championship group that ended on the evening of December 22, Beijing time, Guangzhou (Evergrande) team drew 0-0 with Shanghai Haigang. Due to the 2-1 kill of Shandong Taishan in this round, the point difference between Guangzhou and Shandong Taishan in the standings widened to 10 points, but the "eight champions" of the Chinese Super League continued to pressure Shanghai Harbor and temporarily retained the second place position in the league.
Due to the difficulties of the parent company, guangzhou lost 5 major naturalized players such as Gaulat, Axon, Alain, Luo Guofu and Fernando before the restart of the second stage, and the strength was greatly reduced. Coach Cannavaro also left the team early, and captain Zheng Zhilin was appointed as the interim manager.
In the first battle of the appointment, Zheng Zhi led the "All-China Class" Guangzhou team to lose 0-1 to Guoan. In the next three games, guangzhou team gradually entered a better situation. Draw 1-1 with Hebei, beat Yatai 2-0, and face the full main force including Oscar, Paulinho Jr. and Mui in this round. What is even more valuable is that the Guangzhou team did not fall behind in this battle, and also created a threatening attack many times.
To know this game, Guangzhou started 11 people, in addition to the 31-year-old goalkeeper Liu Dianzuo, the oldest is 28-year-old Liao Lisheng, two U21, and a U23, which is the youngest and most reasonable age structure of the entire Chinese Super League. Because of this, even the well-known journalist He Xiaolong could not help but praise the Guangzhou team led by Zheng Zhi on his personal social account, which is the future of Chinese football.
With a score difference of as much as 10 points with Taishan, Guangzhou has basically missed this season's league title competition. But being able to maintain the confidence and foundation of the former hegemon in a difficult season is a huge success for Zheng Zhihe and this young Guangzhou team.