As the curtain is about to rise on the 2025 Chinese Super League (CSL), the three giants of Beijing Guoan, Shanghai Shenhua, and Shanghai Port have all completed their first warm-up matches, each showcasing their unique strengths. Beijing Guoan has displayed impressive offensive firepower in their warm-up matches. Despite the absence of eight national team players, they continue to dominate on the field. In their first warm-up match against Changchun Yatai, who they defeated 8-1 last season, Guoan showed no signs of complacency and secured another victory with a 2-0 score. They also triumphed over a China League One team with a 4-2 victory.
In these two matches alone, Guoan has scored six goals, demonstrating their formidable attacking prowess. As the saying goes, "Offense is the best defense." Guoan, despite their incomplete lineup, relies on their strong offense to exert immense pressure on opponents and instill hope for the future among fans. Currently, Guoan's foreign players are not yet fully assembled, but with the return of the eight national team players and the anticipated arrival of Dawan, if foreign players from the Spanish La Liga can also join successfully, Guoan's strength will be further enhanced, truly taking off and becoming an undeniable force in the CSL.
Shanghai Shenhua, on the other hand, has adopted a relatively relaxed strategy in their warm-up matches. They faced newly promoted Dalian Yingbo, fielding five foreign players in the first half, which not only showed respect for their warm-up opponents but also highlighted their depth in squad configuration. After all, since the second half of last year, it has been difficult for Shenhua to field five foreign players simultaneously. In the second half, Shenhua brought on several key players, especially the national team players, significantly enhancing the team's strength and completely压制 Dalian Yingbo to their half of the field. Given this situation, if Dalian Yingbo faces Shenhua again in the 2025 CSL season, they may find themselves at a significant disadvantage. Shenhua's approach of first warming up the foreign players and then bringing on the national team players to find their rhythm is both a reasonable use of the main players' energy and an effective way to integrate the squad.
However, Shanghai Port's situation is somewhat different. In their first match of winter training, they chose a high-difficulty mode by competing against a Romanian club. In this match, Port faced many unfavorable factors. The captain on the field was Li Ang, but this could not mask the team's personnel shortage issues. Players like Leonardo did not play, the replacement for Oscar is yet to be determined, and the strongest ace Wu Lei was not in the team lineup. The defensive line was missing Wei Zhen and Jiang Guangtai, and goalkeeper Yan Junling was also absent.
Under such a weakened lineup, facing Romanian players, the eventual loss was not surprising, especially as a mistake by the young defensive line became the turning point of the game. In the second match, Port faced CSKA Moscow, with the difficulty level further increased. However, as the saying goes, "Failure is the mother of success," such warm-up arrangements that led to defeat might allow Port to more clearly recognize their own problems and address them more thoroughly.
In the warm-up matches of these three giants, we can see that each team has different considerations. Guoan demonstrates their strength with powerful offensive firepower against opponents of varying abilities; Shenhua adopts a steady approach, integrating their squad in a relaxed atmosphere; while Port, despite losing in the face of high-difficulty challenges, takes exposing problems as the first step to solving them.
These three giants are each employing their own strategies in preparation for the new season, and the competition in the CSL is made even more suspenseful due to their varied performances. Whether it's Guoan's offensive frenzy, Shenhua's steady progress, or Port's late momentum, they will all add rich color to the 2025 CSL season.
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