In the past few difficult seasons for Beijing Guoan, the quality of forward reinforcements has not been high. Anderson in the 2021 season, Dabro and Adebenro in the 2022 season, they all have in common that they have not shown a higher level than their domestic players on the field.
If Anderson and Adebenro play as a substitute as a "surprise soldier", they can still be used together. Well, Dabro doesn't know if it's ability, mentality, or whatever, it's difficult for him to be a qualified substitute.
This also made more people classify him as the same as Milton, Arsson, Otto and other "watery" strikers in team history.
However, in these very difficult seasons, Guoan Club finally found a relatively reliable foreign striker on the front line in the past 2023 season.
Angolan striker Fabio, who joined the team halfway, has scored 10 goals in just 13 Chinese Super League games and two goals in two FA Cup matches, which is quite efficient.
I have to say that Fabio is surprisingly smooth and fast in terms of adaptability to the environment and integration between himself and the team. At present, he is undoubtedly Guoan's most successful foreign striker in recent years.
Of course, Fabio's achievements in a short period of time, as well as his ability to play in Guoan, are mainly due to the team's head coach Ricardo Suarez. After all, the two have worked together in the Portuguese Super League before, and they know each other very well, saving a lot of run-in costs.
At least, this recruitment will not be as random as the previous "scratch lottery".
Fabio's current success has made many Guoan fans look forward to him next season. Imagine if he starts at the same time as a recovering Zhang Yuning, or with another new foreign player on the front line, the team's attacking quality may be able to improve another notch.
However, although Fabio played well in the previous half season, as a "first-year" freshman of Guoan, he still has a lot to do and learn Xi in the future.
Although the overall level of the Chinese Super League is limited, how a foreign player can play here, play well, and be recognized by the fans may not be able to do it simply by ability.
Based on some past experience of Guoan and other teams, even if a foreign player has a good performance in the first year of the Chinese Super League, he may not be able to continue his previous bravery in the following year.
Let's take national security as an example, there are several typical examples of going from "heaven" to "earth", and none of them can escape the curse of "second grade".
At the end of the 2003 season, Cornese was introduced halfway through the A-League;Thiago, who was introduced halfway through the 2007 season;Utaka was introduced halfway through the 2013 seasonFaizulau was introduced halfway through the 2014 league season.
These foreign players are all joined in the middle of the league and have a perfect "seamless connection" with the team, and their "first year" in Guoan can be described as perfect or outstanding.
And they all denied their previous selves for various reasons when they were in the "second year" of national security.
In fact, the "three foreign guns" of the 90s were also somewhat influenced by some "second-grade" curses. After a stellar 1997 season, in 1998, apart from Andres's relatively stable goal percentage, both Cassiano and Gombos saw a decline in statistics.
Therefore, Fabio's "hot" state in Guoan's first season, both players and fans should forget about it as soon as possible. In particular, the players themselves should seriously think about what kind of mentality they should use to prepare for the new season.
Of course, there are also people who look at these issues from a metaphysical point of view. For example, don't change your jersey number or shoes easily. Indeed, there have been cases of this beforeCornese changed from No. 38 to No. 10 and Thiago from No. 42 to No. 10, and then there is no aura at all.
However, for Fabio, there is one thing not to worry about, which is that he integrates well with his teammates. Whether on online social media platforms or in reality, he can often interact and joke with his teammates, which may also stem from his cheerful personality.
And the previous Anderson and Dabro were indeed far from Fabio in this regard. That mentality will definitely help him develop in the team, not to mention having a manager who has 100 per cent trust in him.
Fabio's holiday at the end of the season has been a varied journey from Dubai to his hometown of Portugal and Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
Take advantage of this holiday to adjust your mood first, and then you will soon usher in the "second grade" in Guoan.
Whether Fabio will be affected by this spell is anyone's guess now, at least I'm not blindly optimistic about it now, but I'm not pessimistic either.
After all, there are counterexamples of the "second grade" curse. Yelic, who joined in the 2004 season, Kanute who joined halfway through the 2012 season, and Dejan, who joined halfway through the 2014 season, all played better and more consistently in the second season.
In short, hopefully Fabio will finally appear in these counter-examples. But on the other hand, I would also like to remind the national security club that in the future, if the economic situation allows, the alternative plan for reinforcements should not be treated sloppily.