Jiang Shenglong's remarkable talent on display in the Chinese Super League has undoubtedly brought great solace to national team head coach Ivankovic. With World Cup qualifying resuming in June, China will face a tough challenge from Thailand in their first match, and a win will be crucial to advance. Although Jiang Shenglong has represented the national team on several occasions, he has never been able to secure a starting defender position. However, his recent strong performances in the Chinese Super League may prompt Ivankovic to reassess his strength.
Facing a fast and flexible opponent like Thailand, it is especially crucial to master the game's high altitude advantage. Jiang Shenglong is not only technically outstanding, but also the tallest defender in the national team with a height of 193 centimeters, Zhu Chenjie and Jiang Guangtai are not as tall as him. Therefore, in order to play the height advantage against the Thai team, it is expected that coach Ivanovic will consider letting Jiang Shenglong start in the back line, while Zhu Chenjie or Jiang Guangtai in one of them may lose the starting position, but as a substitute. In terms of fitness, Zhu Chenjie is obviously more suitable to partner with Jiang Shenglong. In this case, naturalized player Jiang Guangtai may face losing his starting spot to the bench of the national team.
We expect Jiang Shenglong to stand up to the test and surprise the fans as the new star of the national team's backline.
