Chengdu Rongcheng vs Meizhou Hakka

Shuangliu Sports Centre is the venue as Chengdu Rongcheng and Meizhou Hakka battle it out for a place in the Chinese FA Cup quarter-finals.

An overwhelming 3-0 victory against fellow top-flight rivals Hebei proved more than enough to propel Chengdu Rongcheng into the FA Cup round of 16, where they’ll meet familiar foes Meizhou for the sixth time. Despite drawing back-to-back Chinese Super League fixtures in the build-up to this encounter, Seo Jung-won’s men have the H2H stakes firmly on their side. Indeed, they’ve not lost any of their five previous competitive meetings with Meizhou, alternating between winning (3) and drawing (2) on each occasion. While a drab 0-0 stalemate against Shanghai Port in their most recent home outing doesn’t look promising, Rongcheng can draw inspiration from an intimidating 14-match unbeaten streak on home soil (W7, D7).

On the other hand, visiting Meizhou Hakka head into proceedings in the midst of a dismal spell of form, having lost five of their last six competitive matches (W1) since a 6-2 demolition of lower-league side Shijiazhuang Gongfu in the previous FA Cup round. A lack of firepower up top has seen Milan Ristic’s side fail to get on the scoresheet three times in their last four outings, which has been the case in two of their four previous H2Hs against Rongcheng. If that’s not enough to make the visitors concerned about their chances of turning the H2H tide here, it’s worth mentioning that they’ve suffered three defeats in their last four competitive away games (W1), conceding 2+ goals in each loss.