The Chinese national team brought in two new players who are important in the match against the Indonesian national team in the continuation of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers.
Serginho and Yang Mingyang fill the Dragon Squad’s midfield. The two players did not participate when China hosted Indonesia in a meeting in Qingdao on October 15, 2024.
Serginho is a naturalized player from Brazil. The 30-year-old midfielder only got a Chinese port on March 13. The player who is now contracted to the Beijing Guoan club has already pocketed one match with the Chinese national team.
The debut of the player who once strengthened Santos occurred when China faced Australia and lost 0-2 in the match that took place on March 25, 2025.
Meanwhile, Mingyang is a player of Chinese descent who was born and raised in Switzerland. The 29-year-old midfielder even strengthened the Swiss national team at the age group level. This is Mingyang’s first call-up to the Chinese national team.
Mingyang has also strengthened the Lausanne-Sport, Grasshoppers and Wolverhampton Wanderers clubs.
In addition to Serginho and Mingyang, there is also a ‘foreign’ player in China, namely Jiang Guangtai who has English blood. Unlike Serginho and Mingyang, Guangtai has already appeared against Indonesia seven months ago.
Despite minimal international experience at the senior level with China, Serginho and Mingyang could be installed as starters by Branko Ivankovic in the match against Indonesia at SUGBK.
Other Chinese midfielders are also considered to not have many caps. Of the 27 names called by Ivankovic in the match next month, there are seven players who play in the midfielder position.
Of the seven names, only Wang Shangyuan has defended the country 26 times.
Shangyuan also played when China won 2-1 over Indonesia. At that time, Shangyuan played with Li Yuanyi and Xie Wenneng in a 4-3-3 formation.
Image source: detik.com
