The 2008 Beijing Olympics followed in the footsteps of the European Championships, and the Chinese were so enthusiastic about the event that they even surpassed history in this event - they surpassed the United States with 51 gold medals and became the top winners of the Olympic gold medal table for the first time in history.

As a Chinese, of course, we should be proud and proud of such a grand achievement, but for foreign media, of course, they do not see it this way, just four years ago in Athens, the United States still firmly pressed the Chinese under 35 to 32, why in just four years China's gold medal has nearly doubled, but the Americans have not grown?

To say that there is no advantage of the host in this is to deceive yourself.

The funny thing is that four years later, the Chinese media are still accusing the British of taking advantage of the host's advantage to win more gold medals for themselves.

In fact, this kind of thing has long become a tradition in China, and this is not a sudden accident, but a "political performance phenomenon" that has always existed.

The sports event that can most vividly show the causal relationship in this kind of thing is actually not the Olympic Games, but the "National Games" in our country.

In a total of 12 National Games so far, the host has always been a big player in the medal table, and even after the 8th National Games in Shanghai in 1997, the host country occupies the first place in the gold medal table has become a tacit understanding of the national sports team.

This is the real "host advantage", what controversy. What referees, what media exposes, what audience dissatisfaction, these are not in their consideration, they have only one goal, this year I am the east, so I am the biggest, for the sake of political performance, for the sake of everyone's "harmonious" relationship with each other, the representative teams of other provinces and regions will admit their "advantage" with a smile. And there is a tacit understanding to maintain this situation all the time.

"Top of the gold medal list" at the Beijing Olympics. It's just that the Chinese have brought this "host advantage" into play in the international competition.

In fact, this kind of thing is not only done by the Chinese, but also by the Olympic Games, and by other events, the America's Cup. European Cup. Africa Cup of Nations. The Asian Cup, as we all know, is the case in every tournament of these football events, and the hosts deserve preferential treatment. Otherwise, who will buy tens of thousands of tickets now? Who would have the same sense of identity as their national team would play in other countries?

This is an attitude towards the world, and it is also an unspoken rule recognized by all combinations of interests, but some people play well, some people play poorly, and some people play too much.

Italy did not qualify for the finals of the Olympic Games at all, so Italians will not care about football at the Beijing Olympics, and after the European Championships, all eyes of Italy are focused on the rebuilding of the national team of "Pi II".

The first national team list of "Pi II" made everyone cry out incomprehensible, Villarreal striker Jupese. Rossi, Udinese striker Pepe, Napoli fullback Maggio, defender Santa Croche, Juventus midfielder Nocerino, Fiorentina midfielder Montolivo, Siena goalkeeper Kurchi, Roma midfielder Aquilani, the selection of these 8 players directly lowered the average age of the Italian team by 3 years.

Everyone knows that Italy in the past is very old, but no one thought that Lippi's reform efforts would be so great, if you count Arsenal striker Descartes, who has already been Lippi in public relations Inter Milan striker Balotelli, this team will really go from a veteran team to a milky baby army overnight.

Can such a team take on the task of challenging the 2010 World Cup in South Africa?

Of course, the media will not think that an old man like Lippi is comparable to Donadoni's hard stone that has nothing to do but be stubborn, but such a huge change still makes them a little worried, among these new young players recruited to the national team, there are few who have really made a name for themselves, Descartes has always been a superstar in Italy, but he has only performed well in the World Junior Championships, as for others, he has worked hard in various domestic leagues, and has not appeared on the world stage so far.

Inexperience is very dangerous for a national team, especially a strong team like Italy, which has high aspirations, and relying on a group of child soldiers alone will definitely give people the illusion of instability.

Fortunately, Lippi's eyes are not only on the level of changing blood for the national team, he also understands the tasks he needs to face when he enters the palace for the second time, so while he is recruiting fresh blood, he is also sending a goodwill call to those meritorious veterans, Nesta, Cannavaro, Totti, counting the goalkeeper Buffon, who is not injured and will definitely be the main force, and the veterans such as Pirlo and De Rossi who stay in the team, Italy's new squad structure has been set up at a glance.

Descartes, like all other media and fans, was full of worries and expectations about the national team, but the thought of being a member of the national team made her feel very excited.

This selection for the national team is not the same as the 06 World Cup, when he was destined to be a spectator, but this time, he is likely to become the leading player in the front line, and he is confident that he has far more quality than Rossi and Pepe, who are also young opponents.

Just announcing the squad doesn't mean that there will be a chance to play right away, now the leagues all over Europe are on vacation, people all over the world are watching the Olympics, there are no international matches to play during this time, even friendly matches are rare, because every player has been busy all season, they all need time to recuperate and continue to prepare for next season's battle.

It would be inhumane to schedule a game at such a time.

So all Descartes can do at the moment is to continue his recovery training at A.T. Kearney, with no holidays for injured players.

By mid-July, when Descartes was gradually able to practice some shifting runs, he saw Arsene Wenger in A.T. Kearney again.

Arsene Wenger will try his luck at the European Championship this summer to see if he can find some good players who have slipped through the net. I only went back to France for a short time, and the end of the season was a busy time to deal with the departure of players, but the beginning of the season was a busy time to bring in new players.

No David. Dunn, Wenger and Arsenal only now understood what they had lost, there were no more cheap and beautiful players waiting for them to choose, no more throwing the list to Dunn, and then he brought the players back smoothly, Wenger had to work the introduction of players himself, and Arsenal had no bargaining power with other teams.

12 million euros, this is Marseille's offer for Nasri. It's not reasonable or unreasonable. Arsene Wenger and Hill both know that if Dunn is still around, Nasri will never be able to sell for this price, but now Marseille have set their sights on Arsenal's master of no transfer operation. Not a pit at this time. When to pit again?

Even Bremen took out 2 million from Arsenal to let Bischoff go - god pity. The Portuguese has played a total of 0 minutes in 2 seasons in Bremen, and he even volunteered for Arsenal after a break with the Bremen hierarchy for such a player. Arsenal actually spent 2 million euros.

With poor signings and high prices, Arsene Wenger certainly won't be happy, and only when he sees Descartes sweating on the pitch will he have a smile on his face.

However, Wenger soon discovered that there was a problem, Descartes' back did not allow him to exercise too vigorously for the time being, so he had to run and stop, shoot with the ball, and then take a break, get up and run two steps when he had rested, and repeat the rhythm all the time.

It was the restorative training method that the doctor was asking for, and of course there was nothing wrong with it, but Wenger felt that something was missing.

So he put on his coat and walked into the team's main training ground with his hands behind his back.

There are also two players who have continued to train here, Rosicky, who was on the injury list twice last season, and Eduardo, who is gradually recovering from a broken bone.

As I have said before, while the other players are enjoying their holidays, these injured soldiers have to choose to stay at the base for recovery training, the world of football is a cruel place, if you can't recover and rise quickly after an injury, then naturally someone will take your place, without sweating, there is no way to stand firm in this world.

Seeing Wenger coming over, Rosicky and others greeted him one after another, but seeing that Wenger was heading straight to Descartes, they all followed with curious eyes.

"Deska, how do you feel?" Arsene Wenger's opening words were still very warm, and he has always loved hard-working players from the bottom of his heart.

"Not bad." Descartes hammered him on the back, indicating that he had no major problems, but he saw Wenger frowning quickly, so he cautiously asked: "What's the matter, Mr. Wenger, is there anything wrong with my training?" ”

"Not really." Wenger's brow furrowed for a moment, and he did so to provoke Descartes' question.

"Why don't you try to take advantage of this opportunity to practice your free kicks?" Arsene Wenger suddenly asked the question with great interest.

"Free kicks?" Descartes paused for a moment and asked, "Do you think I need to step up my free-kick practice?" Why? ”

Wenger smiled wryly and did not answer Descartes' question in the first place.

Free-kicks have long been a problem for both Wenger and Arsenal, and while Arsenal's football is known for its flamboyance and fluidity, few have noticed that they have never had a good free-kick master in their squad.

Of course, there is no shortage of free kicks in Henry's 226 league goals, Van Persie, Rosicky and others have also had the experience of free kicks, but looking at the major European giants, Manchester United once had Beckham, now has Ronaldo, Chelsea has Lampard, Barcelona used to have Ronaldo, now there is Xavi, AC Milan has Pirlo, these famous doors more or less have a free kick master, can create a huge danger to the opponent when the set-piece, only Arsenal, who are they?

According to incomplete statistics, Arsenal have scored a total of 4 direct free kicks in the past three seasons, and only 4 direct free kicks in 3 seasons! Apart from Descartes' retaliatory strike at Birmingham, the last time they were able to break through from a free-kick was Brazilian midfielder Denilson, who has now been sent back to the reserve squad due to poor performances, and Arsenal's current top free-kick taker is striker Robin van Persie.

Of course, their last number one free-kick taker was also a striker, King Henry.

Few teams have had their number one free-kick taker striker, and even fewer have wasted so many chances from set-pieces, and it would have been a breeze to break a hundred goals if they had managed to capture a fifth of Arsenal's free-kicks last season.

Such an Arsenal feels like O'Neal back then, he has unparalleled domineering and strength, but once he stands on the penalty line, he becomes an out-and-out "wilting brother".

Even Van Persie, the team's number one penalty taker, is definitely not a free kick master at this time - of course, he finally practiced free kicks at Arsenal - but at the moment, letting him take free kicks can only be said to be a last resort, Xiaofa's skills have nothing to say, but free kicks are even more unreliable than Van Persie, not to mention others such as Adebayo and Diaby.

That's why Arsene Wenger wants Descartes to practise his free-kicks a little more, his passing and footwork are imaginative, and such a player, with a little practice, can definitely score from free-kicks.

What's more, his back muscles have not yet recovered to the best condition, and he can't run with a large amount of exercise, but he can just use it to practice free kicks, which is a great use of time?

Wenger's analysis is very much in line with Descartes's appetite, it is not that he will not take free kicks, but with the strength of Pavia at that time, there are very few opportunities to get direct free kicks, and after coming to Arsenal, he is not the penalty taker designated by Wenger, so he rarely shows his free kick skills.

The last time he scored that goal in Birmingham, he really wanted to kick the opponent's Riddle, and God can testify, he himself was surprised that the ball flew into the opponent's goal.

But that goal had already planted a trigger in his mind, and he found that the free kick scoring was also a very interesting thing, the important thing was that there was no one to destroy the goal when shooting, and between the free kick and the penalty, in fact, there was only the wall in the middle.

So Descartes nodded to Wenger, indicating that he would pay attention to the practice of free kicks, for which Wenger was very happy, and patted him on the shoulder with a smile and said: "I have a lot of free kick videos in my office, you can take them and take a look, those penalty takers are masters, you must learn something from them." ”

It's no wonder that Arsenal have never had a master of free-kicks, and they don't even have the trainers to catch them in this area, so they can only let the players learn from the video.

Descartes had a vague feeling as if he had fallen into a big hole. (To be continued......)