Preview of the fourth day of the China-Korea showdown: At the halfway point of the tournament, can Shanghai Port achieve a double victory over Korean teams?

Han Bing reporting from Dingnan On January 14, the “462” Cup’s first China-Korea Youth Football Elite Challenge reaches its fourth day, marking the midpoint of the first stage. Today features four China-Korea matches, with the spotlight on the showdown between HSFA Hwaseong and Shanghai Port. As per the schedule, in the initial six matches, each Chinese team can only compete against two Korean teams. Although the four visiting Korean teams are generally strong, there remains hope from outside that Chinese teams can defeat, or even sweep, the Korean sides. Shanghai Port, facing HSFA Hwaseong today, is the first Chinese team with a real chance to accomplish this feat.

Compared to teams like Guangzhou Evergrande, Wuhan Three Towns, and Guangdong Mingtu, who showed strong performances from the start, Shanghai Port had not yet displayed dominant results. In the first round’s night game, a fatigued Yongin FC barely won after a penalty shootout. Subsequently, Shanghai Port’s form improved, first beating Henan 3-0, then defeating the strong Wuhan Three Towns 2-0 yesterday. In today’s fourth round, Shanghai Port, Zhejiang FC, Xi’an Sports School, and host Dingnan Dream will each face their second Korean opponent. Among these four, only Shanghai Port has previously beaten a Korean team, making them the first Chinese side with a chance to achieve a “double win” over Korean teams.

HSFA Hwaseong opened with a highly competitive and fast-paced match, narrowly defeating domestic powerhouse Zhejiang. However, they then suffered two consecutive losses with scores of 0-1 and 0-4 against the Chengdu Football Association team and Guangdong Mingtu, earning zero points from these matches. Among the four Korean teams, Seongnam leads the standings with three straight wins, followed closely by Incheon United also with three wins including one via penalty shootout. Yongin FC, despite losing their first two matches, gained a point after a draw in regular time and a penalty shootout loss against Shanghai Port. For the high-start, low-finish HSFA Hwaseong, today’s match against Shanghai Port is crucial to prevent an unprecedented third consecutive defeat for Korean teams in the tournament.

In another China-Korea matchup, Incheon United faces Zhejiang FC, with both teams having players selected for their respective youth national teams. Zhejiang boasts Hua Zixuan, Guo Rundong, and Chen Jianfeng, while Incheon United features No.14 Liu Canyong and No.24 Kim Heoran, both of whom have attended Korea’s U13 national training camp, making this a “U15 national team” level confrontation between China and Korea. Yesterday, Incheon United drew 4-4 with Guangzhou Evergrande Football School and narrowly won in a penalty shootout, marking them as the best-performing Korean team so far. Zhejiang’s youth training system is also top-tier domestically and naturally draws attention. If Incheon United continues winning, they are likely to share the top two positions in the mid-stage standings with Seongnam FC.

In the other two China-Korea matches, Seongnam FC faces Xi’an Sports School and Yongin FC takes on Dingnan. Both Korean teams hold clear advantages in strength. Chinese teams have managed to beat Korean teams on each of the previous three match days, but today the hopes mainly rest on Shanghai Port and Zhejiang FC to continue that trend.

Among today’s four matches between Chinese teams, apart from the close contest between Wuhan Three Towns and Guizhou Football Association team, the bottom three in the standings — Shenzhen Xinpengcheng, Henan, and Ganzhou Football Youth Training Center — will respectively face stronger opponents Guangdong Mingtu, Chengdu Football Association team, and Guangzhou Evergrande Football School. If Zhejiang can at least upset second-ranked Incheon United, Guangdong Mingtu and Guangzhou Evergrande Football School stand a good chance of breaking into the top three in the mid-stage rankings. Meanwhile, Henan and Ganzhou Football Youth Training Center, who have yet to score a goal in the tournament, will continue striving for goals and points.