The Chinese Super League has just ended, and there is only one last event left in Chinese football this year-the Football Association Cup championship.
Starting from January 4th, the FA Cup quarter-finals will officially begin. Two frustrated giants in the league, Shandong Taishan and Shanghai Haigang, are the only two teams that still have the ambition to win the championship. In the FA Cup final last season, Taishan beat Haigang 1-0 to win the championship. Who will win the championship this season?

Football Association Cup quarter-final matchup map.
The matchup situation shows that in the first half of the Football Association Cup, Taishan will face the new champion Wuhan Three Towns , while Shanghai Shenhua will have a two-round match with the Cangzhou Lions. In the second half, the Haigang team will face Chengdu Rongcheng, and the Zhejiang team will compete with Jinan Xingzhou. The winner of the FA Cup can qualify for the 2023 AFC Champions League, but for a team that has just completed a season of Chinese Super League , its attitude towards the FA Cup is somewhat waning.
Among them, the three towns, Zhejiang, Cangzhou and Chengcheng are in the same situation. They all completed the season league goals, so they are not concerned about the FA Cup. The three towns won the first league championship trophy in team history.

The three towns of Wuhan will play in the Football Association Cup with all Chinese teams.
The Cangzhou Lions completed their relegation goal, and the team almost immediately entered a holiday state. It is understood that the Cangzhou Lions will mainly compete in the FA Cup with young players. Kante, Owusu and other foreign players who have contributed to relegation will not participate in the FA Cup. Chengdu has won three consecutive games at home in its last three league games, but head coach Xu Zhengyuan said that players are generally physically tired, so the FA Cup team may let more young players play.
The Zhejiang team has unprecedentedly won the third place in the Chinese Super League, creating the best result since the professional league. The Zhejiang team played against Jinan Xingzhou. According to regulations, it cannot send foreign players to play, so the team does not rule out letting foreign players directly take leave. After all, both Matthews and Mu Xiekui are veterans, and their bodies are relatively tired after a long league season. In the two-round match against Jinan Xingzhou, if the Chinese League Two champion can advance to the semi-finals in an upset, it will also create the best result in a third-level league competing in the Football Association Cup.
Shenhua, which has performed well in the FA Cup in recent years, is currently in a special situation. The club is going through a critical period of shareholding reform and resolving wage arrears. The new owner Jiushi Group has officially started work. On the afternoon of the 2nd, the new leaders completed a formal meeting with the players and coaching staff at the Camqiao base . Ceremony, that night the team set off from Shanghai to Suzhou to prepare for the game. However, due to the settlement of wage arrears and player contract renewal work has not yet been completed, Shenhua's lineup for the FA Cup is also quite unsatisfactory. Being able to pass the Cangzhou Lions is the limit, and the hope of further progress against Taishan in the semi-finals is extremely slim.

The outside world is generally optimistic that Shanghai Haigang and Shandong Taishan will meet again in the finals.
The most serious attitude toward the FA Cup is last season's champions Taishan and Haigang. Both teams failed to win the league this season. The FA Cup has become the last straw for both sides. Both teams will play with their full strength.
In the previous stage, both sides experienced widespread fever among players, and the related symptoms have been greatly alleviated. Judging from the last two rounds of the league, Taishan and Haigang have basically returned to their full lineups. Not surprisingly, the two teams have a high probability of meeting in the finals.