Beijing Guoan: There can be no more mistakes in the FA Cup.

Special Contributor/Song Ci After losing to Shenhua at home in the league, Guoan has little time to recover, as they are about to face another match. On the 22nd, Guoan will challenge Qingdao West Coast away, which is the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

For Guoan, the draw for this year's FA Cup is quite favorable, with no strong opponents in the upper half. If everything goes smoothly, their chances of making it to the finals are considerable. However, after just losing in the league, the impact on morale is significant. Facing Qingdao West Coast, led by Shao Jiayi, whether they can pass this hurdle remains uncertain.

Losing 1-3 to Shenhua at home, Guoan trails Shenhua by 3 points. This result is "very painful" for Guoan, and many people found it hard to sleep that night, including Guoan fans and internal team members. Indeed, Guoan had been performing well, especially against several strong teams. Losing to Shenhua has forced both the team and the fans to reflect: does this year's Guoan really have the strength to win the championship?

At the beginning of the season, the outside world generally believed that the strengths of Shenhua, Guoan, Haigang, Rongcheng, and Taishan were quite similar. Whether it was the quality of foreign players or the level of domestic players, they were basically on the same level, all vying for the championship. As Taishan's performance declined due to issues with head coach Choi Kang-hee, the competition has narrowed down to four teams. Recently, Rongcheng has also faced public conflicts between the head coach and the club. The reduction in the number of teams competing for the championship has made the situation clearer, and Guoan certainly hopes to defeat Shenhua at home to gain an advantage in the title race.

Perhaps it was the immense psychological pressure that caused Guoan to carry a burden at home, being fully suppressed by Shenhua. The process and outcome of the match left both Guoan fans and the team feeling very frustrated. After the match, even loyal fans were passionately cheering for the team, hoping the players could rally, but almost every player's expression was grave, clearly indicating that they found the result hard to accept. "We are indeed very sad. We want to win this match more than anyone else. The fans worked so hard to create the TIFO in the heat, and we really feel sorry for them," said one player.

With a packed schedule, Guoan didn't even have time to review the loss to Shenhua, as they have to play in the FA Cup on the 22nd. On the afternoon of the 20th, under the guidance of the coaching staff, the team held a recovery training session, and in the afternoon, the players were given half a day off. On the morning of the 21st, the entire team took a high-speed train to Qingdao, preparing for the FA Cup quarter-finals against West Coast.

Head coach Setien has been encouraging the players to keep their heads up and continue to fight like men in the upcoming matches, striving for the best results in both the league and the FA Cup. When asked about whether there would be rotations in the FA Cup match against Qingdao West Coast due to the busy schedule, Setien stated that the previous training was not solely focused on the match against Shenhua, but also included preparations for the dual challenges of the FA Cup and the league. "We train hard every day to face the challenges brought by different competitions. This FA Cup match is also very important for us, and we don't have much time left to recover. The players gave their all in the match against Shenhua, and they need to adjust better."

In the match against Shenhua, all of Guoan's main players were present, with five foreign players and naturalized international player Sergio all starting. Therefore, in the upcoming FA Cup match, some players will definitely need to rest. In the last round of the FA Cup, when they faced Dalian Yifang away, Setien also rotated some key players, but that match was quite perilous, nearly turning against them in Dalian, and they ultimately only managed to advance through a penalty shootout. This served as a wake-up call for Guoan, and Setien will consider the previous FA Cup situation when making decisions about player usage.

Guoan had faced Qingdao West Coast about a month ago in a league match—Guoan narrowly won 1-0 at home. Many fans felt that Guoan's victory was quite fortunate, as they were once suppressed by West Coast in the second half, making for an ugly match.

In this rematch, Qingdao West Coast will be playing at home, and their head coach, Shao Jiayi, is very familiar with Guoan. This match presents a significant challenge for Guoan. An insider from Guoan stated, "Based on the current FA Cup matchups, fans may feel that our half is relatively favorable, but other teams, especially West Coast, might think the same. Jiayi's team has been performing well in the league without much pressure, and he surely hopes to make a push in the FA Cup. We absolutely cannot underestimate our opponents and must be prepared to face difficulties. Moreover, after just losing to Shenhua in the league, we cannot afford any more mistakes in the FA Cup; let's treat this match as if it's the final."