Shanghai Shenhua met the Manatees at home in this round of the Chinese Super League, and the team's goalkeeper Bao Yaxiong unexpectedly became the focus of the field. What embarrassed Bao Yaxiong was that he was in the spotlight, not because of how good he was, but because he made a low-level mistake. Bao Yaxiong made a mistake on the ball, allowing the Manatee players to seize the opportunity. The Manatees went straight to the ball and went past goalkeeper Bao Yaxiong. Fortunately, Shenhua central defender Jiang Shenglong made a world-class clearance and did not concede a goal. Otherwise, Bao Yaxiong will definitely be abused by Shenhua fans after the game, and then lose the position of the main goalkeeper.
After 90 minutes of fierce battle, Shenhua and Manatee won 2-0. Shenhua fans felt that Bao Yaxiong's poor performance in this game proved that coach Slutsky should be properly rotated in the goalkeeper position. Since the start of the 2024 Chinese Super League season, Bao Yaxiong has been the main force that Shenhua Lei cannot beat. The goalkeeper has been in good form for most of Shenhua's games and has kept a number of clean sheets.
For this reason, Shenhua fans feel that Bao Yaxiong should enter the national football team. Maybe Bao Yaxiong didn't have Shenhua's low-level mistake in playing the Manatees in this round, and Ivankovic would consider calling him up for the national team. Bao Yaxiong is a goalkeeper born in 97, and after entering the national football team, the age structure of the national team goalkeeper can be more reasonable. Previously, the standing goalkeepers of the national football team were Liu Dianzuo, Yan Junling, and Wang Dalei. All three of them are elderly players, which has caused a gap in the goalkeeper position for the national team, which is something that worries fans.
From the long-term perspective of the national football team, the team's goalkeeper position can be considered as Bao Yaxiong, who is in his playing year. It's a pity that Bao Yaxiong's low-level performance in this round of Shenhua and Manatee matches is likely to make him miss the national football call-up. After all, the criterion for judging whether a goalkeeper is good is to look at his consistency. According to this technical indicator, Bao Yaxiong is obviously unqualified. At the same time, Shenhua fans suggested that the team could let the second goalkeeper Ma Zhen rotate to play the main team in the goalkeeper position. Ma Zhen is the main goalkeeper that Shenhua once focused on cultivating, and he beat Bao Yaxiong to play the main team for a period of time last season.
At that time, Ma Zhen's performance in Shenhua was national-level, winning the recognition of coach Wu Jingui and fans. If Ma Zhen had not been suspended by the Football Association for a long time for violent fouls, Shenhua's current main goalkeeper would still be him. Ma Zhen has not found his best form since his return from this ban, and was squeezed to the bench by Bao Yaxiong. Now, Bao Yaxiong's mistake in this round of the Chinese Super League has allowed Ma Zhen to see the opportunity to be on the top. I hope that if Ma Zhen can get the chance to start in the next round of Shenhua games, he can have a commendable performance and once again sit firmly in the main position of the team.
(Shopkeeper Luo)