With the official announcement of Liao Jintao's joining and Ali Mi's arrival, Dalian Yingbo's recruitment is basically nearing completion, and there will not be any more major signings. The team will end the winter training phase in Haikou this week and start the final preparations after the holiday. At 15:30 on January 21, Dalian Yingbo welcomed their third friendly match in Haikou against Beijing Guoan. In the previous two matches, they won 2-1 against Tongliang Long and lost 0-2 to Shanghai Shenhua. Facing the rhythm of the Chinese Super League level, Dalian Yingbo's players still need to adapt.
Guoan almost sent out all their main players, making some adjustments to the starting lineup after several national team players returned. Setien also understands "human relations," with Zhang Yuning and Abreu starting as dual center forwards, trying to coexist. New foreign aid Dawan partnered with Guga, and Serginho played. Dalian Yingbo started with a single foreign aid for the second consecutive game, with the goalkeeper changed to Huang Zihao, Xiao Wen, Yang Mingrui, Song Yue, etc., starting consecutively. Malele, Mamadou, and other foreign aids were on standby, and facing strong teams continuously was a good exercise for Yingbo.
Similar to the previous game, Dalian Yingbo started passively, with Guoan's passing and control and small-range cooperation being默契. Dalian's defense was vulnerable, and Guoan's simple long pass allowed Abreu to score the first goal with a solo shot, showing his hot form. Dalian Yingbo was relatively passive, with their backline easily breached, only Kalanga starting as a foreign aid, and no midfielders controlling the ball. Nabi Jiang's cross from the flank caused Jin Pengxiang to score an own goal during his clearance, trailing 0-2 at halftime, with Kalanga hitting the post with a header once.
In the second half, Li Guoxu brought on Malele, Mamadou, and Ali Mi, three foreign aids, completing their debuts with Dalian Yingbo and further integrating the lineup. Judging from the coach's recent two games' usage of players, he focused more on assessing the abilities of domestic players, with the starting positions of the five foreign aids stable for the new season, not needing assessment. Players like Jin Pengxiang, Yang Mingrui, Xiao Wen, and Lyuchao Yi are on the edge of the starting lineup. Many fans criticized Li Guoxu for giving too little playing time to the foreign aids.
After the foreign aids came on, Dalian Yingbo's offense improved immediately, with Liao Jintao scoring a goal, Malele assisting Yan Xiangchuang with a through ball to score another, tying the game with two goals. Yan Xiangchuang grows more cunning with age, contrasting with Kalanga's failure to score in the previous two games despite having clear chances. This signing of Malele is absolutely a "bargain," joining as a free agent, even if the salary is slightly higher, it's worth the price. In the game against a strong team like Guoan, they did not fall behind at all, and Li Guoxu can be said to have hidden a "secret weapon," with four foreign aids on the field, playing attacking football.
Compared to the previous game where they couldn't keep up with Shanghai Shenhua's rhythm at all, Dalian Yingbo clearly could go back and forth with the opponent in this game, already taking the shape of a Chinese Super League team. On individual positions, Li Guoxu tested many players. For example, the full-backs Xiao Wen, Zhao Jianan, Cao Haiqing took turns partnering, with Liu Yi's long-range shot heading straight for the corner, scoring the third goal. Dalian Yingbo, after conceding two goals first, scored three goals in a row to win 3-2 against Beijing Guoan, achieving a comeback. Although the result of the friendly match is not important, this game greatly boosted the team's morale. Except for Labu Yade who was injured, the other four foreign aids all played in this game.