- Underdog story: Shanghai Zetian are the last amateur team left in the Chinese FA Cup and will be supported by a packed home crowd for this David vs Goliath contest.
- Set-piece threat: Shanghai Zetian have a proven set-piece strategy and can create chances from deep when they are compact.
- Opposition form: Chengdu Rongcheng, from the top tier, have been one of the best teams in the country this season, leading the Chinese Super League with a host of multi-goal victories in May and June.
Shanghai Zetian: underdogs with momentum
Shanghai Zetian and Chengdu Rongcheng FC face off for the first time in a senior competitive match in the fourth round of the 2026 FA Cup on Saturday. The hosts are the only amateur team remaining in the competition and are enjoying a Cinderella run at the moment having won their last two cup ties by emphatic scorelines – 6-0 vs Hainan Shuangyu and 4-2 against Dingnan Ganlian.
Shen Ming's side have been physically tough, high-pressing and well organised from set-pieces, three main aspects which have formed the backbone of their cup run so far. In fact, Zetian are not a typical possession-playing team, preferring to absorb pressure in a compact block before releasing their counter-attacking talents, led by talisman Anwair Aili.
Chengdu Rongcheng have a superior playing style
Squad and personnel
Chengdu Rongcheng are a class apart from Shanghai Zetian in terms of the playing style and quality of players they have at their disposal, albeit some of those are not allowed in the cup, such as Brazilian duo Rômulo and Wellington Silva. However, the likes of Wang Ziming can score goals at the top level and with Egor Sorokin and Han Pengfei they have a sturdy spine to their team.
Tactics and approach
The club's philosophy has been to play a proactive 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 system since John Aloisi's appointment as manager at the beginning of 2026. They press high, dominate territory, win turnovers and get the ball wide in numbers to create overloads.
As such, the clash of styles should be interesting and Chengdu will do their best to keep the game in an attacking state where they can dominate. They have scored 2+ goals per game in recent league matches and have been rotating their squad in the cups.
Upset and penalties potential
While a Chengdu win seems likely given their superior overall quality, the hosts are not a one-man team and have been so impressive in the cup so far. With a home crowd to spur them on and with no extra time to worry about, if a draw is on the cards, Zetian will be desperate to get a draw and penalties.
We think the best chance of profit is to play a low-risk, high-reward bet on the draw or Chengdu win and take the penalty shoot-out odds into account.
- The odds for Chengdu to beat Zetian are 1.45, which is a lot considering this is a knockout game.
- The underdogs are 5.83 to win while the draw is 4.7, which means the odds are highly in favour of the CSL leaders.
