Can Rongcheng block the strongest firepower of the Super League at the harbor? This battle may determine the pattern of the Super League championship!

Football Newspaper

2024-05-20 10:07Posted on the official account of Guangdong Football News

Reporters Cheng Shan and Lu Mi reported that the 2024 Chinese Super League season is nearly halfway through, and the Shanghai Tang team is in full swing. Shenhua's defense is solid, Harbour attack is sharp, both teams remain unbeaten, although Shenhua leads, but Harbour still has a goal difference advantage in one less game, and always maintains a comeback trend.

On Wednesday night, Harbour hosted Chengdu Rongcheng. For the harbor, it was a battle for revenge. Last season, Harbour, which won the Chinese Super League championship, was killed by Rongcheng, which was a major pain point in the Harbour championship season. In the new season, Harbour, which scored 37 goals in the first 11 games, has the best attacking power in the Chinese Super League, and the offensive configuration of Wu Lei plus five foreign aides is a strong foundation for them to change the poor record against Rongcheng.

It will also be a game that will determine the pattern of this season's Super League title race. Rongcheng are the closest team to Shanghai Tang in the current standings. Once Rongcheng is defeated at home, and then considering the strength gap between the harbor and the supplementary opponent Meizhou Hakka, it means that the gap between the Shanghai duo and the chasers behind them will be further widened.

Therefore, Shanghai Port played against Chengdu Rongcheng at home, which was not only a decisive battle, but also a championship pattern. If Chengdu Rongcheng can't bite the footsteps of Shanghai Port, the race for the Chinese Super League title is likely to turn into an internal competition in Shanghai.

Last season, Harbour played 11 and 10 at home, but were scored the only goal of the game by Rongcheng. Unwilling to be defeated at his own doorstep, he originally wanted to go and win the opponent away from home. However, three months later, in the face of the cheers of nearly 40,000 home fans in Chengdu and the fact that Richard was sent off at the back of Chengdu's defense, he finally lost 1-2.

This season, Chengdu Rongcheng has five foreign players, plus three former Evergrande players such as Ackerson, Wei Shihao and Yan Dinghao, as well as national team-level players such as Zhou Dingyang, Tang Miao and Maitijiang, and the strength has been significantly improved. However, after winning five consecutive games at the start of the season, they have been weak lately. Before the last round against Henan, the results were only one draw and two losses. Fortunately, in the match with Henan, the team's form picked up, and finally won 4-2.

On the other hand, this season's harbor has been soaring all the way. In the last round of away games against the West Coast, the Harbour front line continued its hot state, with full firepower, Wu Lei and Gustavo both staged "two goals" again, scoring more than five goals in four consecutive rounds, shocking the Chinese Super League. After 12 rounds of league play, Shanghai Port has won 8 wins and 3 draws in 11 games, 3 points behind Shanghai Shenhua and 2 points ahead of Chengdu Rongcheng, which fully demonstrates that Shanghai Port has performed well and steadily in the league this season.

In the face of the strong attacking power of the harbor, it is not easy for Rongcheng to win away again. In the last four league games, Harbour have scored 21 goals, an average of more than 5 goals per game, which is enough to shock any league opponent. The momentum shown by Harbour in 11 games, and the changes Muscat has brought to Harbour this season, is not just in the number of goals.

Last weekend, Harbour beat Qingdao West Coast 5-3, and the eight goals scored in a single game in this game also set a new record for goals scored in a single game this season. At the same time, because the game was played at the end of the round, the final single-round goal data reached 43, exceeding the previous record of 37 goals scored in a single round of the Chinese Super League and setting a new record. What Harbour is even more proud of is that the team's 33 shots on goal in this game set a new record for the number of shots on goal in a single game in the Chinese Super League, and 14 shots on target also tied the team's record for a single game. What's even more interesting is that Harbour's offensive end "can't stop at all", in addition to the effective goal, Harbour also scored four offside goals, which made the referee on duty Ma Ning couldn't help but laugh.

Of the 37 goals scored by the Harbour team, 23 goals came from Wu Lei and Gustavo (Wu Lei 14 goals, Gustavo 9 goals), giving a visual comparison of this number - after 12 league games, Taishan only scored a total of 23 goals, while in addition to Taishan, Shenhua and Rongcheng, the other 12 Chinese Super League teams each scored less than 23 goals. In the entire list, Harbour have played 11 games so far, with 37 goals in their hands, 10 more than leaders Shenhua.

The momentum Harbour have shown in attack so far this season has been impeccable. Muscat has been trying a variety of combinations, which has given Harbour, which once only relied on an attack combination of Oscar + Wu Lei, more routines. The Harbour forward line has blossomed more points, and the offensive methods and routines are abundant, which is enough to prove that Mu Shuai usually does not work hard. After the run-in in the early stage of the league, the cooperation of the Harbour offensive group has become more and more mature, and the tacit cooperation between several players and the lack of greed in front of the goal have also become one of the reasons why the Harbour data is so good.

For the incentive of foreign aid, Muscater is also quite good. In the previous game, Muscat replaced Vargas, who was in good form, which made the latter a little unhappy. Last season was also due to substitutions, and Vargas and then-coach Javier broke out at odds. But this time, Muscat walked to Vargas's side at the first time, explained the purpose of the substitution to him, and praised his team's performance on the field as very satisfactory, which immediately dispelled Vargas's concerns.

By the first eight rounds of the league, Harbour had already used 23 players to participate in the competition. Muscat does not have more restrictions on the nationality and personal data of players, giving more players the possibility to play, so that the whole team has formed a healthy competition.

Although the Harbour front court is "picturesque", and the statistics and rankings are very eye-catching, the team is not without hidden dangers, and their defense has been the most criticized by the outside world before. In the goals conceded list, Harbour have conceded 13 goals in 11 games, a far cry from Shenhua's only four. In the match against the weaker promoted horse Qingdao West Coast, whose main foreign players were absent due to injury, they conceded three goals in one game. The seaport, which holds the defense line of the "national brand", should not have made such a mistake.

An unstable defensive system is always a concern. When facing a weaker team, Harbour can also rely on the individual ability of the players to block the opponent's attack, but once it encounters a strong team and an attacker with stronger individual ability, Harbour still pursues the initiative through possession after entering a defensive situation, which is a certain risk. It is particularly noteworthy that a team with good strength like Rongcheng has a strong counterattack ability, and the harbor is easy to be attacked by the opponent after the attack is fruitless.

Muscat also noticed the problem, "Our focus on the game is very critical and we need more urgency when we are leading by a big score. The leakage of the defense proves that the concentration and concentration of the entire team are not at their best. ”

The match with Rongcheng may become the "touchstone" of the harbor, behind the ferocious offensive end and terrifying data, whether the harbor can stabilize the defense has also become the biggest highlight of this round.

Due to the away game against Harbour on Wednesday night, Chengdu Rongcheng made changes to their personnel and formation for last Saturday's game. At the back, Yang Fan started his third consecutive game. Playing against Meizhou, which is ranked lower, Rongcheng originally wanted to win without spending too much energy, however, the accident at the beginning made the game process very different.

In the first minute of the game, when Yang Fan and Meizhou foreign aid Kosovic were competing for the ball, he raised his leg too high and stepped on the opponent's abdomen, and Kosovic fell to the ground instantly. The referee personally reviewed the details of the foul after receiving the video assistant referee's prompt. After carefully watching the replay screen, the referee showed a red card to Yang Fan in the 3rd minute of the game. Chengdu Rongcheng started with one less player.

After playing one less player, he defeated Meizhou Hakka 4-1, although this result was able to satisfy the team, but the victory did not alleviate the criticism of Yang Fan's action. Many people even turned up his record of being sent off with a red card for three consecutive seasons. It's just that as a party, Yang Fan said that he was unintentional, he only saw the ball at that time, and did not see Kosovic by his side, jumping up to fight for the ball. In his own opinion, this red card is different from the one he was sent off for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

After the game, Yang Fan immediately took the team's translator to the players' tunnel to find Kosovic to apologize in person. At the same time, Yang Fan publicly explained his actions on his social media, and apologized again to Kosovic, as well as the coaching staff and players in Chengdu. He said: "In the future, I will train harder and be strict with myself. Although Yang Fan thought his action was unintentional, he was also punished with a red card. He will next attend a hearing with the Football Association, after which the Football Association will decide whether to impose additional penalties on him.

After the game, Yang Fan thought a lot about himself. When he came to the strange city of Chengdu alone, many people thought that he was here to live a good life, but after experiencing the ups and downs of his previous career, he has also changed a lot. One of the main reasons for joining Chengdu is to re-prove himself in a competitive team. Judging from the reinforcements in Chengdu this year, the competition in the defensive line is very fierce, and Yang Fan did not even have a chance to play as a substitute in the first 9 rounds.

Yang Fan said to the people around him, "I only need one game, and I can start as long as I play one game." "In fact, he really did. After starting the away game against Beijing Guoan, Xu Zhengyuan really sent him to partner Teemo in the next two rounds. For him at this stage, this is the starting opportunity he has fought hard for, and he should cherish it more. And now, maybe all his previous efforts will be in vain. In the days to come, he will have to learn to deal with the ripple effects of this action, and then he will have to train more actively to maintain his condition and wait for the opportunity again.

Although the opponent Meizhou team is ranked low, because it is an away game and almost one less person in the whole game, the overall consumption of Chengdu Rongcheng last weekend is still very large. Fortunately, Chengdu Rongcheng has the advantage of personnel, and after the large-scale recruitment at the beginning of the season, Xu Zhengyuan can let Felipe, Romulo, Andrigo and others rest. The reason the South Koreans are doing this is that they are about to play Shanghai Port away from home.

At present, there is only a two-point gap between Chengdu Rongcheng and Shanghai Port, which is in second place. However, due to the harbor having one less game, Rongcheng can only go all out to bite the harbor at present. Otherwise, in the event of an away defeat, Harbour will be at least five points ahead of Rongcheng. As the Chinese Super League approaches the halfway point, the title race may turn into an internal rivalry between the two teams in Shanghai as early as possible.

In addition, Rongcheng Club has the goal of competing for the AFC Champions League, and it is a task that must be completed to maintain the ranking and complete the transformation into a strong team. However, judging from the situation of the game after 12 rounds of the Chinese Super League, Rongcheng can often win the game when competing with teams in the middle and lower reaches of the ranking. However, when playing against the old powerhouses, Rongcheng's performance was not consistent. This Wednesday's away game against Shanghai Port is also the biggest test for Chengdu Rongcheng since the start of the Chinese Super League this season. This is not only a test of strength in the stadium, but also a review of the club's all-round ability.

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