Gao Hongbo
When Arie Haan left the Chinese team his replacement Zhu Guanghu completely left Liu Jindong out of all of his squads and this was to continue under Vladimir Petrović. Liu Jindong would have to wait five years until Gao Hongbo came in before he made his return in a friendly match against Germany in a 1–1 draw on May 29, 2009. He would continue to re-establish himself when he played in another friendly against Saudi Arabia in another friendly match, which China lost 4–1 on June 4, 2009.