CCTV has a special program "Feast of the Giants" that is widely praised by fans during each World Cup, because the Chinese team was shortlisted for this World Cup, this year's program is to meet with fans a month in advance, for Chinese fans with more than ten years of football, "Feast of Giants" is also an indispensable element in the memory of the World Cup.

As Chinese fans once said when they ridiculed CCTV's "World Football": Playing the worst football, but making the best football program in the world.

However, before the start of the World Cup, everyone did not put this sentence on their lips. The show is still classic, and the national team also has a new look.

On the eve of the national team's official departure to Russia, CCTV specially put one of the episodes of "Feast of the Giants" in Shenyang for recording, which is also the national team's departure ceremony for the public.

At the beginning of the show, Lippi first revealed the list of 23 people who were most concerned about the expedition, and the media and fans had actually guessed it, but today was the first authoritative release, and everyone was still looking forward to it.

The players whose names were read came up one by one on the stage and lined up in two rows, and yesterday the coaching staff had already announced the final list internally, so everyone was relaxed when they came to the stage, and these players were serious on the field, which was still very entertaining at this time.

As Wen Zhihao finally took the stage with a very aesthetic somersault, the host Zhang Bin introduced in two more sentences: "Wen Zhihao, the leader of the new Champions League champion Atletico Madrid, needless to say, the vast majority of fans pin their hopes on him to score the first goal of the World Cup." ”

Liu Ruofan, who was the most hotly discussed by fans before, successfully impressed Lippi and was selected for the Russian World Cup squad.

Except for this suspense, the rest of the people on the list are basically in line with everyone's predictions.

Eight players from Guangzhou Evergrande, the seven-time champions of the Chinese Super League, were selected. They are goalkeeper Zeng Cheng, four defenders Feng Xiaoting, Zhang Linpeng, Li Xuepeng, Deng Hanwen, three midfielders Zheng Zhi, Huang Bowen and Yu Hanchao, and the forward line is Gao Lin in the forward position without suspense. The Chinese Super League hegemon has become the largest international player output club in this World Cup, basically occupying the core position of the central axis from the back to the front.

The club with the second largest contribution of international players is Shanghai SIPG, with a total of five players selected. Including goalkeeper Yan Junling, three young defenders Wang Shenchao, Fu Huan and Shi Ke, and the remaining one is the martial arts king who has been criticized in the national team. won three consecutive Chinese Super League local golden boots, and the topic of his stay abroad has always attracted everyone's attention. However, compared with Wen Zhihao and Liang Xin, he is 27 years old this year, and he has missed the best stage of staying abroad, and this World Cup is his last hope for staying abroad.

In addition, the most prominent feature of the 23-member squad of the national team is that the rain and dew are evenly stained - including old teams such as Shandong Luneng and Beijing Guoan, and even some middle and lower teams have international players shortlisted.

Incidentally, Liu Ruofan currently plays for Shanghai Shenhua Club, and he is also the only Shenhua player selected for the World Cup squad. The old powerhouse of the former Chinese Super League thrilled and avoided the embarrassment of zero internationals.

Considering that it will not affect the preparation of the national team as much as possible, the departure ceremony is not long, no more than an hour in total, and the main thing is that each player talks about what to expect in the World Cup. However, the words of the old captain Zheng Zhi made everyone's hearts a little sour.

"For me, there's nothing special to look forward to. Being able to play a good role in this national team to help young people grow up faster is even if the task is completed. I am quite satisfied to have the opportunity to participate in the World Cup at this age, and I have no regrets. ”

Some fans said: "Although Zheng Zhi's temper is a little hot, this kind of professionalism is definitely a model for domestic players to learn." ”

……

After the departure ceremony, the whole team will officially fly to Sochi, Russia the next day. The first group game of the Chinese team was played at the Olympic Stadium in Sochi.

From the first moment the Chinese team arrived in Sochi, it attracted wide attention at home and abroad. Not only were a large number of fans wearing the red jerseys of the Chinese team and local students greeted them at the airport, but after the whole team arrived at the preparation base on the outskirts of Sochi, the staff of the Chinese Consulate General in Sochi came to express their condolences in person. The national team's return to the World Cup this time is by no means just a major event at the sports level. It carries the football dream of the whole of China. Moreover, the boss at the top has said publicly many times that the football dream is also part of the national rejuvenation.

In the context of this concern to elevate the World Cup to the national level, the Chinese Football Association also attaches great importance to it, and the logistics support is unprecedented. The first is to learn from the experience of the German team in preparing for the World Cup in Brazil, and build a training base to meet the needs of the national team's preparation, and secondly, the Chinese team has its own team of chefs to ensure the food and drink of the players. This was attempted during the 2015 Asian Cup, which resulted in a historic third consecutive win in the group stage of the Asian Cup. This experience also made the Chinese Football Association decide to continue to learn from it, hoping to really achieve a historic breakthrough in Russia.

The first practice session of the Chinese team after arriving in Sochi was not completely closed, so many reporters gathered around the training base to look for an opportunity to wait for the interview, and surprisingly, there were more foreign faces with yellow hair and blue eyes than the huge number of domestic media. And from the logo of the equipment they carried, the sharp-eyed Chinese reporters could see at a glance that they were not local tabloids joining in the fun, but there were the "three major news agencies" in the global press circle: the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters, as well as the leading global sports media such as Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and the German "Bild", as if the focus of the global media was on the Chinese team, which was more concerned than the world champion German team and the host Russia. Chinese reporters privately joked that regardless of the performance on the court, at least the Chinese team's eye-catching ability is properly ranked first among the 32 teams.

There are several reasons for this, of course. First of all, the Chinese Super League has invested crazy money in recent years, introduced many world-class stars, and played a brand effect on a global scale, and the sudden strength of the Chinese team in the past two years has also changed the view that "the league is strong and the national team is weak", and it is natural to pay attention to the performance of the Chinese team to return to the World Cup. Secondly, it cannot be ruled out that some world-class media are here to chase Wen Zhihao, simply interested in his performance in the World Cup, and beat Messi to win the Champions League Silver Boot with the position of a midfielder, Wen Zhihao's influence has begun to spread around the world. Progressively becoming a world-class player.

The more attention the national team receives, the more proud Chinese journalists feel. Anyway, the Chinese team does not have a clear performance pressure, and it is also a big gain outside the field to make face with the help of the World Cup and soothe the self-esteem that has been trampled on in the past.