Chapter 1

Nikola Latish sat on the coach's seat, trying to look like everything was normal.

The game on the field had just started, and he had already confirmed that number 99 of Zenit St. Petersburg was the Chinese guy who had left in front of him back then!

He didn't know what the Chinese father and son were called, but such an obvious build and height wouldn't be mistaken...

It really surprised him. He thought he would never see that arrogant Chinese kid again in his life, but he didn't expect them to meet again so soon.

And he also confirmed one thing—the other party obviously recognized him. From the moment he walked out of the player tunnel, he had been looking at him. That look was full of undisguised... excitement.

What was he excited about?

Latish couldn't figure it out.

The head coach sitting next to him, Gasayev, was wearing a thick coat and watching the game with his legs crossed.

The game had just started, and although it was still snowing, it was much better than in the morning.

However, there was still a lot of snow on the field.

The match ball was also changed to a red soccer ball, making it easier for everyone to find the target in the white world.

The commentators on the TV station started complaining that Zenit was wearing white jerseys with only a little blue trim, which was not clear on the field at all...

But soon he stopped complaining, because when Chen Hero slipped and fell, the area on his buttocks turned black after he got up.

Now it was easy to tell them apart!

Chen Hero got up from the ground. He was originally rushing forward, preparing to meet his teammate, but the teammate's pass was too far back. He wanted to stop suddenly and turn back to catch it—this action wouldn't be difficult for him on a normal field, but today it made him look foolish...

He sat directly on the ground with his butt, and the snow and pre-match warm-up activities turned the field into a rotten vegetable patch.

Chen Hero got up from the ground and habitually patted his butt, but the more he patted, the dirtier he got. His hands were full of mud, and he couldn't shake it off.

Seeing that he couldn't shake it off, Chen Hero simply ignored it.

Although he had specially changed into long-studded shoes before the game, Chen Hero was still very uncomfortable with this kind of field.

Snow battles were not as fun as he thought...

"In this game, Zenit's number 99 player, Hero, is still starting. He hasn't scored in four consecutive league rounds, and was once driven back to the bench. If Tek hadn't just recovered from his injury and then got injured again... he probably wouldn't have been arranged to start in this game..."

Yuri Petrov, a soccer commentator for Russia One, was introducing Chen Hero to the audience.

This wasn't the first time he had seen this player. The last time Zenit played against Spartak Moscow, he had introduced him in detail. But that was completely different. At that time, Chen Hero was at the height of his fame, having just staged a hat-trick in the game against Soviet Wings, and became popular all over Russia overnight. Everyone was very interested in this giant like an iron tower.

Who would have thought that that game would be the beginning of Chen Hero's downturn.

His performance in the game was quite poor, which greatly disappointed Yuri Petrov, who had originally had high hopes for him.

Later, he didn't pay attention to this Chinese guy anymore.

It wasn't until he was preparing for the commentary task for this game that he went to re-understand Chen Hero's recent situation. After seeing that he hadn't scored in four consecutive league rounds, he thought, "Sure enough, this kid is just a shooting star..."

"...Due to his single characteristic, Hero is easily defended by his opponents. This is also the reason why he hasn't scored a goal in the past four league rounds. In the last game, Advocaat seemed to want to use him as a tactical center forward... I wonder if this will provide him with more opportunities to play?"

Due to the slippery field, Chen Hero's performance was greatly affected. It wasn't until the twelfth minute that he jumped up for the first time.

As a result, he headed it too high.

He already felt it, just like those previous opponents. Moscow Central Army's set of tactics against him was not new at all.

They used two center backs to double-team him in the middle, one of whom was the best at headers and guarded him closely. Then they strictly guarded the crosses from the wing, trying to cut off the crosses to him from the wing, so that he could not use his header to attack the goal. As for the long passes from the backfield, the defense was not very strict—no one thought that Chen Hero could jump up outside the penalty area and flick the soccer ball into the goal with the back of his head...

After four games, Chen Hero was very familiar with this set of tactics. But what was the use of being familiar with it before? He had no other tricks. Apart from headers, he couldn't do anything else.

Even if he knew that doing so was futile and doomed to failure, he could only use his header to fight the opponent.

But now it's different...

Latish watched the game for more than ten minutes and found that Chen Hero was no threat at all. He now felt more and more that it was right for him to let this person go at the beginning. If such a person stayed in the Central Army, he probably wouldn't even be able to play in the youth team.

Gasayev sat on the coach's seat and hadn't moved his butt yet. They were playing at home and currently had the advantage, so he had nothing to worry about.

Advocaat frowned.

The terrible field made it impossible to play ground coordination at all, and the dribbling effects of Arshavin, Kerzhakov and others were greatly reduced.

He turned his attention to Chen Hero. It seemed that he still had to rely on him...

Before the game, Advocaat's task for Chen Hero was to be a qualified responder and bridgehead. When the attack reached him, he would pass it on to his teammates.

Because of Chen Hero, the team had an aerial advantage and could lift the soccer ball up.

But in this way, the probability of Chen Hero scoring was very low... Because he needed to make the ball for his teammates, instead of letting his teammates make the ball for him.

Who would have thought that Chen Hero himself didn't raise any objections to this arrangement.

This also relieved him slightly.

After all, the team's victory is more important...

"That Chen Hero's performance is as sluggish as ever..." The reporters in the media box were also commenting on the game that had just passed for more than ten minutes.

"The field is a bit terrible..."

"What does it have to do with the field? He is a player with excellent headers, and his advantages are all in the air. And the field is so terrible, which strengthens Zenit's determination to play high balls, and his teammates are passing the ball to him, so he should have more opportunities to play!"

"Anyway, I don't have any hope for his performance in this game. You know, the field is terrible, so Zenit will definitely play high balls, so the defense of the Central Army is easier - if the field is normal, they have to be distracted to defend the lower three routes, but now they don't need to. Just defend the air!"

The central figure of their discussion was still Chen Hero, because Chen Hero's attitude after getting off the bus and being interviewed angered the media.

The feeling that he was looking down at this group of reporters in front of him with the corner of his eyes made the uncrowned kings feel like dwarves in front of giants.

In addition, his rhetorical question made the reporters feel that this was a blatant provocation!

The media in St. Petersburg had gradually become accustomed to Chen Hero's behavior, but the media in Moscow were not very clear about Hero's style.

Therefore, in this discussion, few media in St. Petersburg participated in it. It was all the media in Moscow who were indignant.

But when they were vying to express their disdain for Chen Hero, they all forgot that they had unconsciously regarded Chen Hero as their center, and their joys, sorrows and sorrows all revolved around Chen Hero...

Chen Hero found that the terrible field made the team play high, which instead helped the Central Army reduce the burden - they didn't have to consider how to defend the ground breakthroughs of Arshavin, Kerzhakov, Anyukov and others. They only needed to jump up and compete with themselves.

His pressure is now very high...

It seems that it is a bit difficult to score with a header now.

He decided to try a long shot.

There was very little time left for him. There were originally only forty-five minutes, but now fifteen minutes had passed, leaving half an hour. In this half an hour, he had to score at least one goal.

The soccer ball from the backcourt allowed Chen Hero to pass it to Kerzhakov not far away from him.

As soon as Kerzhakov received the ball, he was about to turn around, but the terrible field made his previous soulful turn look clumsy. He hooked the soccer ball, but the soccer ball didn't obediently follow him, but moved a little and stopped in place.

And his own body had already turned around.

At this time, Sergei Ignashevich, the defender of the Moscow Central Army, quickly rushed up to try to intercept the ball on the spot.

Fortunately, Kerzhakov reacted quickly enough, and he quickly poked the soccer ball out.

Anyway, Chen Hero was next to him.

Watching the soccer ball roll over, Chen Hero didn't stop the ball and pass it to other teammates, but... directly kicked a long shot at the rolling soccer ball!

He shot directly from more than 20 meters away from the goal!

The moment Chen Hero hit the soccer ball, he felt his supporting foot suddenly slip!

His body followed and deviated to the left...

The result of this long shot can be imagined...

The soccer ball flew directly into the sky, both deviated and high.

A burst of laughter rang out in the stands of the Dynamo Stadium.

Some people were gloating and whistling.

Chen Hero was lying on the ground in a very embarrassed state, coupled with the laughter from the stands. This debut of his long shot was really a complete failure.

"...Let's take a look at this long shot - oh my! It shot high and deviated... Where was he aiming at?" The commentator Yuri Petrov was quite looking forward to it, but as soon as the soccer ball flew out, his tone changed.

"Okay, the field is too slippery..." Then Petrov realized that he was a bit too harsh, so he changed his tune.

Chen Hero got up from the ground and gestured to Kerzhakov, thanking him for his pass.

He suddenly thought of the dream he remembered after getting up in the morning...

There seemed to be a scene of playing with himself in the dream.

Wouldn't it be such a coincidence?

Could it be that the dream had already foreshadowed that he would gain nothing today?