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Recently, after Shanghai Shenhua goalkeeper Bao Yaxiong was selected for the national football team's training list, the Shanghai media "Xinmin Evening News" published an article commenting on Bao Yaxiong's progress in recent years and believed that he would be expected to represent the national football team in the round of 18 of the World Cup qualifiers in the future.

Thanks to the joint efforts of goalkeeper Bao Yaxiong and the entire team, Shanghai Shenhua is the Chinese Super League team with the fewest goals conceded so far in the 2024 season. Bao Yaxiong, wearing the No. 30 jersey, has also been shortlisted for Ivankovic's national team training list for two consecutive times due to his outstanding performance.

In the 2023 season, Shanghai Shenhua Club was taken over by Jiushi Group, and two younger potential goalkeepers, Ma Zhen and Bao Yaxiong, were replaced to guard the goal for the team. After a period of competition, Bao Yaxiong became the main goalkeeper of Shanghai Shenhua. In the 2023 FA Cup final and the 2024 Super Cup, two battles that determined the ownership of the championship, both head coaches Wu Jingui and Slutsky let Bao Yaxiong start, resulting in two "zero-blocking" opponents and two championship trophies. After these two games, Bao Yaxiong, who had experienced wage arrears and 70 goals conceded in a single season in the Hebei team, finally waited for the first peak of his career in Shanghai Shenhua.

So far in the 2024 season, Shanghai Shenhua has not lost a game in which Bao Yaxiong started. After several games, the opponent's players, coaches and fans couldn't help but sigh: "It's difficult to break through the goal guarded by Bao Yaxiong this season!"

Shanghai media said that 10 years after Wang Dalei left the club, Shanghai Shenhua finally found another goalkeeper who can change the outcome of the game by himself. The hard days of worrying about the main goalkeeper finally turned into "no need to worry with Bao Yaxiong here". Can Bao Yaxiong, who is going to the Chinese national football team to prepare for the World Cup Asian qualifiers, show his skills on a bigger stage and bring more surprises to Chinese fans?

Bao Yaxiong, 27 years old this year, is 1.92 meters tall, which is the standard tall goalkeeper type of modern football. Judging from his performance so far this season, he should indeed become the main goalkeeper of the national football team. But the possibility of Bao Yaxiong playing for the national football team in the first two games of the World Cup Asian qualifiers is very small. Why is this the case? The answer is actually very simple, because the position of goalkeeper is very special. In addition to personal ability, psychological quality is even more important than personal technical ability. Bao Yaxiong has never played for the national football team in an official match before. If he is asked to play in a game like the World Cup Asian qualifiers, whether his psychological quality can withstand such pressure is a big question mark, so the coaching staff of the national football team will not take this risk easily.

I believe everyone should have an impression of the goalkeeper Gu Chao. During the Chinese national football team's journey to the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, the main goalkeeper Zeng Cheng was injured in the match between the Chinese national football team and Iran. Gu Chao came on as a substitute and helped the Chinese national football team to complete the zero-blocking against Iran in that match. At that time, many Chinese fans thought that Gu Chao would secure the position of the main goalkeeper of the Chinese national football team. However, in the subsequent key battle of the World Cup qualifiers between the Chinese national football team and the Syrian team, Gu Chao left the goal and knocked down his own defender who was chasing back, allowing the opponent's Syrian striker to easily score into the empty goal.

After that, Gu Chao never played for the Chinese national football team again, and his career began to go downhill. It can be seen that if a goalkeeper plays for the Chinese national football team in a key match too early without any experience, it is easy to have a negative impact on his career. Therefore, it is not a bad thing for Bao Yaxiong to sit on the bench for a while longer.

Of course, the Chinese national football team is already facing a shortage of goalkeepers. The 35-year-old Wang Dalei is only 1.85 meters tall. As he gets older, his reaction speed gradually decreases, exposing his shortcomings of insufficient height and arm span. Shanghai Haigang goalkeeper Yan Junling has long been scolded by Chinese fans and nicknamed the "King of Shooting on Target". In this case, who should be the main goalkeeper of the Chinese national football team? Ivankovic really needs to think about it.