On September 13th, Guangzhou City beat their city rivals Guangzhou by a narrow 1-0 margin at their home ground. After the game, Guangzhou City's acting manager Li Weifeng appeared at the press conference together with Guangzhou's technical director Fu Bo.
In his review of the match, Fu Bo lamented, "First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to the fans. Although the fans could not be present at the derby, the competition between the two sides was still intense. If the fans had been there, the game would have been even more exciting. Today, our players showed the style of the young generation. The game was a stalemate for a while, and although we lost in the end, the difference between a goal and a chance is often in the grasp of the opportunity, and perhaps a little carelessness will lead to a loss. It's important for Guangzhou City to get the three points today. Even with the loss, we still need to encourage our players, who are positive on the field and have unlimited potential, and look forward to even better performances from them in the future."
"At the moment, points are crucial for us and the pressure is real. The game is as much about art as it is about results, and it's as much about playing well as it is about winning. We have a number of young players in the team, and we have also brought in a few veterans in the summer window, who have contributed a lot to the team, for example, Artemis Junmin's performance has made a big difference, and they are gradually integrating and will carry on the team's excellent tradition and bring more help to the team."
"For our team, the next three weeks will be a crucial period for us to adjust, with the likes of Zheng Zhi, Zhang Chenglin and Huang Bowen expected to return to action."
Talking about Guangzhou City's performance, Li Wei Feng said, "We are naturally happy to win the game, but we still have many problems in the game. We were too nervous and a bit impatient in the opening period. I told them to stay calm in order to find a solution to the problem, but the performance in the first 45 minutes was not satisfactory. As a coach, I take a lot of responsibility because I demand a lot from them and we finally found our rhythm in the second half."
"The team's overall defense has improved significantly, which is what I was looking for. We need to strengthen our defense as well as improve our offense, but time is running out, so I can only try to strengthen the close cooperation between the midfield and the backfield. The physical condition of the players is not good at the moment, so I need to give them more support next. I'm glad that when I first joined the team, I told every player, no matter veteran or newbie, to earn their chance to play by their performance. Yongjia, Xiao Liao, Ningan and others have performed well. I believe I can leave a bright future for the team."
"Our team is really facing a lot of difficulties, the current situation in the table is tough, even if we win today, we are still in the relegation zone. Our goal is to look forward and aim higher. Winning and losing are commonplace, we should not always complain about the difficulties but face up to the challenges and take responsibility."
Talking about Zheng Zhi, Li Wei Feng said, "From the beginning of playing football in '98 to the transformation of coaching today, we all need to continue to learn and progress. After the match, we also plan to meet. We are friends and brothers. The soccer world is cruel, who would have expected that the two Guangzhou teams would be in such a situation. As you said, the flavor of Guangzhou derby is changing. As an outsider, maybe one day I will leave, but in the time I stay, what I can leave for the team is the most important thing."
"The 10 days of training went well, but despite the win we didn't play as well as we should have and that made me feel a bit lost. Our team is well trained and I told them to see winning as the norm. Tomorrow, we have to put this game behind us and there are more tasks ahead of us. Therefore, winning is not something to be overly happy about, we can celebrate with our families tonight, but after that we need to move on."
