team was still totally suppressed by the opponents. Nicolas Gaitán suffered a minor concussion during the match against Beijing Guoan. The team made contact with Bernd Schuster to replace Ma Lin during the short break of the FIFA Calendar in late March. April On 3 April, Yifang announced that Zhou Jun, who had been working for Shanghai Shenhua since 2006, will be appointed as the chairman after his resignation at Shenhua. Schuster focused on ball possession and passing. He used more young players than the U-23 policy required, which was seldom seen in other teams. Yifang won the first match this season against Liaoning FC in the FA Cup. The team claimed that they will focus on the FA Cup, despite the fact that Yifang constantly struggled in the relegation area. May Yifang defeated Chongqing Dangdai by Sun Bo's long drive to enter the FA Cup quarter-finals on 2 May. On 5 May, Yifang surprisingly overpowered the seven-time league champion Guangzhou Evergrande by 3-0, which was also the first league victory back in the Super League. Nyasha Mushekwi proved himself during this match, scoring 2 goals and gained a penalty as the starting striker. With the limitation of 3 foreign players in the line-up, he replaced José Fonte. On 20 May, Yifang won the critical relegation match against Guizhou Hengfeng. Since Schuster's arrival, the team remain undefeated at home stadium. On 27 May, Jia Xiuquan was appointed as the club's youth training chief inspector. Summer Break The 2018 Chinese Super League came to pause longer than usual, from the end of May until July, in consider of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. José Fonte and Yannick Carrasco entered the final squad to play for their respective national teams. Schuster claimed to improve the team during this period, while the club would seek for new players, especially defensive ones, to improve the squad. Yifang U-19 youth team entered the final round of the U-19 FA Cup, but was defeated 3-4 (0-0) by Jiangsu Suning U-19 in penalty shootout on 28 June. The team moved to Madrid, Spain for summer training from 8 June until 29 June. Leung Nok Hang, Duvier Riascos and a few young players had trials with the team. Mate Maleš left to join CFR Cluj. Wang Wanpeng signed loan contract to another local team Dalian Transcendence. On 21 June, Yifang signed Duvier Riascos for one and a half