The Paper's reporter Song Chengliang
In the context of the average record in the first four rounds of the national football round of 12, the Guangzhou and Hebei teams of the Chinese Super League are in an economic crisis, and the Chinese Super League teams are likely to give up participating in the AFC Champions League next year, and the attention of the 2021 FA Cup is not very high.
However, for some clubs that have underperformed in the league, the FA Cup is a battleground that can save face.
For example, Shanghai Shenhua, who is regarded as one of the candidates for the championship with a luxurious lineup this year, but eventually fell into the relegation group, after consecutively breaking through the Sichuan Minzu, Changchun Yatai and Shenzhen teams, Shenhua and the same city team Harbor will meet in the semi-finals of the FA Cup.
Could it be that the law of the magical single-numbered champion of the FA Cup in recent years will be repeated in 2021?
Shenhua defeated Shenzhen to advance to the semi-finals of the FA Cup. This article picture CFP
Shenhua kept four consecutive clean sheets against opponents
This season's FA Cup, Shenhua can be said to be divided in the death half, in order to advance to the semi-finals must break through the host Yatai and the strong Shenzhen.
In the two-legged match between the Chinese Super League and Yatai this season, Shenhua suffered the same ending, both leading first and then being reversed by the opponent, and the two 1-2 defeats were also the key reasons why the team eventually fell into the relegation group.
In Changchun, Shenhua overcame the dilemma of low temperatures away from home and finally won 2-0 with two goals from Moreno and new foreign player Dumboa.
In the quarter-finals, two legs against Shenzhen, Shenhua scenes are not dominant, especially the second leg of the 29th game, in the end, Shenhua relied on the long-distance attack of the first leg of the HanChao to advance to the total score of 1-0, compared to this goal of the Hanchao, what should be remembered more should be the goalkeeper Zeng Cheng who returned from injury.
The former national football no. 1 goalkeeper sealed out at least 8 threatening shots from Shenzhen in two legs, zeng Cheng missed the last nine rounds of the first half of the league due to injury, resulting in no one using the Shenhua goalkeeper position, with his return, Shenhua finally put together the most complete backline combination.
Shenzhen coach Carlos was quite helpless after the game, "The whole game, especially in the second half, we played very well, and there were not many opportunities for opponents to pass the half. We created five or six great scoring opportunities in the game, but the opposing goalkeeper played very well. There is no doubt that the best player of the game is the opposing goalkeeper. Naturally, Zeng Cheng was also selected as the MVP of this game.
The harbor eliminated dalian people.
Shenhua's four FA Cup matches also sent a very obvious signal: pay attention to defense. The double interception midfield configuration is very stable, the two full-back candidates Zhao Mingjian is also a full-back, Yu Hanchao also has a strong round-trip ability, and the starting center Dunbuya also put a lot of energy into the defense.
It is no exaggeration to say that every player on the Shenhua field has a strong defensive responsibility, which is also a reason why Shenhua can keep a clean sheet in four games of the FA Cup in addition to the goalkeeper ability.
"The team's dominant idea in this game is to play a good counterattack while doing a good job of defense. The opponent's attack put a lot of pressure on our backline. The tenacity and hard work that the whole team showed in defense made me proud of them. ”
Mao Yijun admitted that Shenhua defended well, of course, the sacrifice on the offensive end was also very obvious, and the core of the midfield organization, Adrian, was pressed on the bench in key games like Pogba: "The team was still lacking in the moment when it turned from defense to attack after obtaining the ball, so the team had a relatively low possession rate and failed to organize an effective counterattack. ”
The FA Cup's magic law of odd-numbered years reappears?
On the stage of the FA Cup, Shenhua has been extremely competitive in recent years, especially in the odd-numbered year, in 2015, Gillow led the team to the final, but unfortunately, after two rounds of 180 minutes of mutual exchange of white rolls, he was killed by Sainty's foreign aid Samir, and lost the championship at home.
Two years later, Shenhua was replaced by Wu Jingui after falling into the relegation zone, and the FA Cup went through the finals of Guoan, Luneng, Shenxin and SIPG, and finally Wu Jingui's team won the championship trophy at the Shanghai Stadium by relying on the number of away goals.
In 2019, Shenhua fought for relegation again, and the team completed relegation after Choi Kang-hee temporarily put out the fire, and then entered the final of the FA Cup, and finally won the 3-0 victory over Luneng at the Hongkou Football Stadium, and won the FA Cup again with a total score of 3-1.
It is not easy for Shenhua to lift the FA Cup this year.
What is even more miraculous than the odd-numbered championship is that Shenhua was out of the first round in the year after winning the championship, and was overturned by Nantong Zhiyun 3-2 in 2018 with a 2-0 lead; last season, he encountered Guangzhou R&F and was lost in the penalty shootout after the opponent was drawn...
Over the years, Shenhua has left too many "miracles" on the STAGE of the FA Cup, whether it is the creator or the background board.
Compared with the past two championship-winning seasons, it is coincidental that Shenhua has entered the relegation circle (relegation group), and the team has also experienced a mid-season coach change.
Therefore, some fans joke that from a metaphysical point of view, Shenhua is going to win the FA Cup again this year. In wenger's last few years in charge of Arsenal, because of the two FA Cups, fans jokingly called the FA Cup "thermos cup", and now the FA Cup is somewhat "Baohua Cup" in some aspects.
Compared with the previous two FA Cup wins, Shenhua will inevitably be more difficult to reach the top this year, and the semi-final team will have to play a two-legged Shanghai derby with Haigang, starting from the occupation of Greenland and SIPG, Shenhua's record against SIPG is basically less win and lose more.
In the two-legged series, shenhua is relatively good at, the two sides are also 1 win and 1 loss. The 2017 FA Cup final Shenhua two-legged match overwhelmed SIPG, the 2020 championship group quarterfinals, the two sides drew 1-1 within 120 minutes, and Shenhua lost the penalty shootout and regrettably left...
Even after crossing the harbor, Shenhua will most likely face Taishan in the end, in another set of semi-final matches, Taishan will play against Henan Songshan Longmen, although Fellaini is plagued by injuries, but Taishan with overall strength, in the two rounds of promotion is still very certain.
Wanting to cross the harbor and then climb to the top of Mount Taishan, Shenhua's biggest disadvantage now is that it does not have foreign aid in good shape. In 2017, there was the Colombian "barbecue gang", and in 2019, Sharavi and Jin Xinyu had super personal ability, who can they rely on this year? No one could be found except Moreno.
Editor-in-Charge: Pu Yaolei
Proofreader: Zhang Liangliang