Reporter Wang Wei reports On the evening of June 15, in the 12th round of the Chinese League, the Guangzhou Leopards, who ranked third in the first 11 rounds, faced the fifth-ranked Suzhou Dongwu at the home Yuexiushan Stadium, and finally the Guangzhou Leopards chased three goals in 13 minutes and defeated Suzhou Dongwu 3-2 after conceding two goals first. At the end of this round, Guangzhou Leopard accumulated 25 points, only 3 points away from Chongqing Tonglianglong, who ranked second. On the evening of June 21, Guangzhou Leopards will usher in the quarterfinals of this year's FA Cup, and the opponent is Tianjin Jinmen Tigers, who are fifth in the Chinese Super League.

"The Conflict of Contradictions"

There are a lot of highlights in this game, Guangzhou Leopards scored 22 goals in the first 11 rounds, ranking second in the league in terms of goals, Suzhou Dongwu only conceded 6 goals in the first 11 rounds, and it is the team that conceded the least goals in the Chinese League.

On May 31, Guangzhou Leopards reversed Nanjing City 4-2 away and entered the Chinese League break, in order to better prepare for the next Chinese League, Guangzhou Leopards only gave the players 4 days off, and on June 5, the team regrouped to prepare for the league with the Soochow team.

In the last round of away games against Nanjing City, Guangzhou Leopards finally completed the reversal 4-2 after falling behind by two goals, and the team's spirit of not giving up in adversity won the recognition of the outside world, and also inspired the fighting spirit and confidence of the Guangzhou Leopards team.

On the evening of June 15, Guangzhou Leopards faced another team from Jiangsu, Suzhou Dongwu, at home in Yuexiu Mountain. In the face of the current best defensive team in the Chinese League, Guangzhou Leopards head coach Li Bing adjusted the starting lineup, two 17-year-old goalkeeper Xue Sibo and defender Huang Shenghao continued to start, Yan Zihao, who scored a key goal in the last round of the game, appeared at the left wingback in this game, and the front captain Carlos replaced Hou Yu who started in the last round.

Suzhou Dongwu has just changed coach, and on June 9, Spanish coach Sarco took over as head coach. Sarko was the head coach of Kunshan and led the team to win the Chinese League championship in the 2022 season, and coached the Chinese Super League Henan team in the 2023 season.

In this game, Guangzhou Leopards created many chances in the front court in the first half, and Suzhou Dongwu's defenders and goalkeepers performed well, and the two sides drew 0-0 in the first half.

Only 4 minutes into the second half, Suzhou Dongwu got a gap on the right side of the front, Wu Junjie scored a goal, and Guangzhou Leopards fell behind 0-1. In the 58th minute, Guangzhou Leopard once again had a hole in the left side of the penalty area, and the away defender Andre scored with a header, and Guangzhou Leopard fell behind 0-2. In the 60th minute, the handball in the penalty area of the Soochow team was awarded a penalty, and Guangzhou Leopard captain Carlos made it overnight to chase the score to 1-2.

Subsequently, Guangzhou Leopard immediately made three personnel adjustments, replacing Yan Zihao with Wu Xingyu, replacing Luo Sa with Liang Xueming, and replacing Huang Shenghao with Hou Yu, and began a major counteroffensive. In the 71st minute, Nikon's long-range shot from outside the box broke through the Soochow goal to make it 2-2. In the 73rd minute, Nikon shot another goal on the right side, and Guangzhou Leopard chased three goals in a row in 13 minutes, successfully reversing 3-2. Guangzhou Leopards' Brazilian foreign player Nikon won the best player of the match.

Rosa confronts the old master

The fourth round of the FA Cup (quarter-finals) will be played on 20-22 June. Originally, there was a round of the Chinese League between June 21 and 22, in order to allow the Chinese Football Association teams to have more time to prepare for this round of the FA Cup, the Chinese Football Association and the Chinese Football Federation adjusted the matches between Dalian Kuncheng and Dingnan Ganlian, Shaanxi United and Guangzhou Leopards in the 13th round of the Chinese Football League on June 21. Judging from the information so far, these two matches will be postponed to the August make-up match.

On the evening of June 21 (Saturday), Guangzhou Leopards will host Tianjin Jinmen Tigers in the FA Cup. Before the match with Suzhou Dongwu team on the evening of the 15th, Rosa told reporters that he was ready to meet his former Jinmen Tiger teammates in the FA Cup. However, because there is a more important task in the Chinese League, it is not ruled out that Li Bing will use the all-Chinese squad to play in the FA Cup match with the Jinmen Tigers.