Chapter 411 I want to be a free kick master!
According to the arrangements of Rijkaard and Ten Cate, Barcelona's pre-season training this summer is mainly divided into two phases.
The first stage focused on physical preparation and player observation. From Denmark to Asia, during the past half month, Barcelona was more focused on physical preparation, and also observed the players through four warm-up matches.
Although it was a long journey, we were able to win all four warm-up matches, which was satisfying.
After returning to Spain, Barcelona started the second phase of training, mainly focusing on adjusting their condition.
There will be two Spanish Super Cup matches in mid-August. Barcelona's opponent is last season's Copa del Rey champion Real Betis. Rijkaard also hopes to adjust the team's condition before the Super Cup and strive to win the championship trophy.
After all, Barcelona has not won the Spanish Super Cup since 1996.
As the last warm-up match before the Super Cup, Barcelona was invited to participate in the Carranza Cup held in Cadiz.
This is Spain's traditional summer warm-up cup tournament. When it was first launched, the invited teams were all champions of La Liga, the Champions League and the Copa Libertadores, so it was called the Mini Club World Cup. However, more than 50 years have passed, and the influence of the cup tournament has gradually declined, but it is still a traditional event.
As the La Liga champions, Barcelona was also invited to participate in this cup competition.
The opponent in the semi-finals is Sevilla, which is also a strong team.
The team sold a lot of players this summer. Ramos and Baptista both went to Real Madrid, but they also brought in Fabiano and Kanoute, loaned Saviola from Barcelona, and brought in Maresca from Juventus. The overall strength is not necessarily inferior to last season.
As a team that performed relatively well in La Liga last season, Barcelona is eager to use Sevilla to test the team's tactics and substitute lineup, especially the defensive issues.
After all, everyone knows how fragile Barcelona's defense was last season.
In the first half, Rijkaard fielded a midfield combination of Van Bommel, Gabri and Iniesta, obviously still wanting to test Gabri and Iniesta.
Eighteen minutes into the game, Ronaldinho assisted Sudong to score, but Sevilla also created many opportunities and Fabiano missed at least three scoring opportunities.
In the 34th minute, Edmilson, who played as a central defender, made a diagonal pass to the left, Sylvinho broke through and made a cross, and Sudong headed the ball into the goal in the penalty area, scoring another goal for Barcelona, 2-0.
Just three minutes later, Sylvinho's free kick from the left went directly into the penalty area, and Edmilson scored with a header, making it 3-0.
After the second half, Sevilla seized an opportunity and scored a goal. Daniel Alves saved face for Sevilla. This was also the only goal of Sevilla in this game.
In the end, Barcelona defeated Sevilla 3-1.
Although the game was won, Sevilla's right-back Alves had a remarkable performance and left an extremely deep impression. The Brazilian right-back has very strong skills and abilities and is an important starting point for Sevilla's attack.
As early as last season, the Brazilian connection of Alves and Baptista was Sevilla's most important offensive line.
…
They defeated Sevilla 3-1 and entered the Carranza Cup final.
Two days later, Barcelona faced Cadiz in the final.
Su Dong did not start this time, but came on as a substitute in the second half.
In the first half, Barcelona fielded a midfield combination of Deco, Van Bommel and Xavi, but the effect was not obvious. Instead, the opponent scored in the 41st minute.
Su Dong came on as a substitute in the 55th minute. Three minutes later, he received a pass from Xavi, chested the ball in the penalty area, turned around and shot, successfully equalizing the score for Barcelona.
Subsequently, Ronaldinho, who came on as a substitute, scored two free kicks to reverse the score.
The Brazilian superstar scored two goals directly from free kicks, both of which were very beautiful and the angles were very tricky, leaving the goalkeeper helpless. At the same time, Su Dong, who was watching nearby, was very impressed.
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Bang! On the training ground of the Joan Gamper Sports City, another free kick flew out from Su Dong's feet and went straight to the goal hanging in the distance.
The ball quickly climbed up and passed the dummy placed in front of the penalty area. The ball failed to be pressed down and went directly over the crossbar.
Su Dong sighed helplessly.
He was practicing Albertini's specialty, the falling leaves shot.
Ever since he learned the falling leaf ball from Albertini at Sporting Lisbon, Su Dong has been practicing hard over the years in the hope that one day he would be able to kick a wonderful direct free kick.
It's strange to say, other aspects are progressing smoothly, but Su Dong's progress is not smooth in free kicks.
On the personal attribute panel of the Road to Football system, free kicks are also Su Dong’s biggest weakness.
Of course, it cannot be said to be a weakness. After all, free kicks are a plus for players in any position, not a necessary skill.
Su Dong took several consecutive free throws, but none of them went smoothly.
Iniesta, who was training with him, became a little restless. He and Messi took turns running over to pick up the ball. It was too tiring.
"Su, are you excited? After seeing Ronaldinho score twice with a free kick, do you want to try it too?" Xiaobai asked with a smile.
Su Dong did not hide his envy and nodded, "His free kick was so beautiful."
"Who said it wasn't?" Iniesta was also amazed. "Both the angle and the strength were very beautiful. I saw Armando was completely stunned and didn't even make a save."
Armando is the goalkeeper of Cadiz, which is newly promoted in La Liga this season.
Just before Ronaldinho's two direct free kicks, Armando saved Su Dong's shot and header respectively. Both were excellent saves. This made Su Dong wonder if Armando was deliberately targeting him?
Of course, this is a joke.
I can only say that direct free kicks are extremely powerful and beautiful.
Su Dong is a Virgo man with a perfectionist complex at heart. He can't accept that he has such an obvious weakness in free kicks, so he really wants to practice free kicks.
"If you ask me, you mainly lack some practice. After all, our team has many free kick experts, and it is not your turn to take the penalty. Without practice, no matter how much you practice, it will not be of much use," Iniesta analyzed.
Barcelona's top free kick taker is Xavi, while direct free kicks in better positions are given to Ronaldinho. In addition, Deco is also good at free kicks.
On the contrary, Su Dong has never taken a free kick from Sporting Lisbon to Valencia and then to Barcelona.
"It's okay, don't take it too seriously. There is no perfect person in this world. It doesn't matter if you can't take a free kick, as long as you can score a goal, right?" Iniesta consoled.
But Su Dong felt very uncomfortable.
…
After the extra training, Su Dong returned home and called Albertini.
Although the two were teammates for only one season at Sporting Lisbon, they had a good relationship. Su Dong often called Albertini for advice, especially about free kicks.
Albertini also spoke freely and without reservation.
It is difficult to say what the Italian midfield is like as to Su Dong’s troubles.
"Free kicks are very different from other skills. In fact, it also requires understanding. Sometimes just practicing all the time is not a solution. Practice is only the basis, but you still need to be able to understand that feeling."
Albertini said it was a feeling that could not be described in words.
Especially for a free kick like a falling leaf ball with a clear arc change, it requires a strong feeling.
"To be honest, you've been training for more than two years, but your progress has been stuck. Why don't you just take a break?"
From what Albertini said, it seemed like he was almost telling Su Dong directly: You may not have the talent for this.
But is it really like that?
Su Dong definitely wouldn't believe it, because he had clearly maxed out all his free kick talents.
As for talent, he didn't know about the others, but he definitely had the maximum level of talent.
You know, he is now at the [Ball Level 3] and has full free kick talent, which is equivalent to having the talent of a world-class free kick master. How could he not have talent?
Something must have gone wrong! …
Sometimes, things in the world are just so strange.
God is like a naughty child. When you are unhappy, he will always deliberately rub salt into your wounds.
It just likes to see you in agony, it's really a bit...
A week later, the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup.
Barcelona will challenge Real Betis away.
Rijkaard finally promoted Marcos Senna again, replacing Van Bommel as the team's main defensive midfielder.
Both sides played in a stalemate in the first half, and Real Betis was able to barely hold on.
But in the second half, just two minutes into the game, Ronaldinho made a straight pass from the left, and Giuly broke into the penalty area and shot into the goal.
Four minutes later, Xavi passed the ball behind him, Su Dong successfully made an offside move and had a one-on-one opportunity, then calmly shot the ball into the goal.
In the 63rd minute, Real Betis defender Luis Fernandez committed a foul when defending Sudon, giving Barcelona a good free kick opportunity in the frontcourt.
Brazilian player Ronaldinho took the penalty himself and scored in one go, it was another wonderful direct free kick.
The arc was very beautiful. After bypassing the human wall, it went directly into the Real Betis goal.
Three to zero! This was a direct free kick that was 28 meters long!
Su Dong immediately ran towards Ronaldinho to celebrate the free kick goal, but he felt even worse in his heart.
Are you kidding me? You are just bringing up something irrelevant.
Ronaldinho clearly knows that I haven't made much progress in my free kick practice recently, but his kicking is so good that he has scored three direct free kicks in two consecutive games. He is clearly trying to stir up trouble!
That's too much, isn't it?
Su Dong became even more determined and decided to practice his free kick at all costs.
Scoring goals is secondary. The main reason is that the free kick is so cool!
He must become a free kick master!
(End of this chapter)
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