On October 6, Chinese soccer made waves: Beijing Youth Daily broke the news that international footballer Liu Dengzheng had said goodbye to the current national team training due to an injury, and at the moment of emergency, Shanghai Shenhua's goalkeeper Ma Zhen was recruited by the coaching staff, a change of events that quickly attracted the attention of many fans.
In preparation for the upcoming World Qualifiers, the national soccer team will play two friendly matches in Dalian, Vietnam and Uzbekistan. In light of the poor performance in the warm-up matches in September, Jankovic has made drastic changes to the squad, with players such as Wu Shaocong, Dai Weijun and Fang Hao, who had outstanding performances in the Asian Games, being selected. Nevertheless, Jankovic did not adjust the controversial goalkeeper position, but the situation seems to force him to make changes.
Beijing Youth Daily further revealed Yankovic's latest plan to replace Liu Dengzheng with Ma Zhen. Although the exact information is still unclear, the change caught Yan Junling and Wang Dalei off guard and made Shanghai Shenhua unexpectedly the biggest winner. Fans have had mixed reactions.
Some fans teased, "Ma Zhen will have to bring his fall clothes and pants to the national team this time. After all, he can only sit on the bench in front of Wang Dalei. The temperature in Dalian is not high!" Another fan said, "Ma Zhen was Shenhua's substitute, and his performance before the suspension was outstanding, but his form after the release of the ban was average. I hope the national team can improve with his strength."
However, there are also fans full of expectations: "Once selected, we have to perform well! Even if you can't play, you can exchange ideas with Wang Dalei and share the experience of cheering for the national team from the bench! The future of the national team will depend on Shenhua's Zhu Chenjie and Dai Weijun, and if Ma Zhen can become a top goalkeeper, Hong Kong will face a huge challenge!"
