Advocaat appeared exceptionally cautious when facing Chen Hero, but the Chelsea players didn't necessarily share the same sentiment.

They were aware of Chen Hero's capabilities, but they felt their boss was being overly careful.

Regardless of Chen Hero's strength, he was just one person. Whether he could perform at one hundred percent or fifty percent depended primarily on the level of his teammates. A center forward relied heavily on his team. If the team was strong, he would be stronger; if the team was weak, he would inevitably be hindered.

Chelsea's strength was far greater than Liverpool's reserves.

Even if Chen Hero was exceptional, surely half of their team could offset Chen Hero's influence?

The remaining half of Chelsea's team was stronger than Liverpool's entire reserve team. In comparison, Chelsea still held the advantage.

So there was no need to be so cautious. If they only focused on Chen Hero, Chelsea wouldn't be able to do anything.

Although they outwardly accepted the manager's arrangement—after all, he was the coach—privately, Chelsea's players still felt it was unnecessary.

Being careful with Chen Hero was right, but was it necessary to be cautious with the entire Liverpool team?

They even believed that Advocaat, having been Chen Hero's coach, might be overvaluing Liverpool's reserves out of a "his students are always the best" mentality and extending his affection.

In their view, Chen Hero was someone they couldn't afford to provoke, but what were the reserves?

A few attacks from them would collapse this rabble's defense.

As long as they scored first, scored more goals, wouldn't Chen Hero just be a pursuer? Left to eat their dust.

Chelsea's players believed that Liverpool's defense was easy to break through, and scoring would be easy.

But fifteen minutes into the game, they still hadn't scored.

※※※

"The game has been going on for fifteen minutes, marking the end of the first phase. The score is still 0-0, with neither side scoring, which is a surprise to many. Everyone originally thought it would be a fierce, attacking battle, because Liverpool has Chen Hero, and Chelsea's overall strength is higher than this Liverpool team… But from these fifteen minutes, both sides have been playing cautiously, perhaps because it's the final…"

After fifteen goalless minutes, Chelsea's players didn't find anything unusual. There was still plenty of time, and with Liverpool's reserve team's terrible defense, they could score whenever they wanted.

So they weren't in a hurry.

Liverpool hadn't scored in fifteen minutes because they had fewer attacks to begin with.

Chelsea's steady, solid approach gave Liverpool few opportunities to counterattack.

Chelsea's defense was well-organized, and Chen Hero alone couldn't break through it.

So the two sides were locked in a stalemate.

Another ten minutes passed, and the score was still 0-0. There wasn't even a particularly exciting moment—the one near chance at the start of the match had given many people the illusion that it would be a very exciting game.

But the game quickly returned to normal. This was how a final should be… Finals are rarely pretty, because both teams are always anxious. Attacking wins the audience, defense wins the championship, and this is fully reflected in the final. Everyone wants to avoid conceding first. Even if they can't score in the end and it's a draw, there's always a penalty shootout.

So not attacking is perfectly fine; not defending is where the real problems start.

※※※

In those twenty-five minutes, Chelsea had a total of five shots, Liverpool three. Chelsea had the upper hand in possession, with sixty-eight percent.

Whether it was shooting stats, possession time, or other data, Liverpool didn't have the advantage.

Many people thought it would be difficult for Liverpool to score in this game. Faced with Chelsea's steady and solid approach, it would be difficult to break through their goal unless Liverpool's first team was brought on.

The commentators and guests also expressed their views on the current match situation, believing that Chelsea had the initiative and were cautiously optimistic about their chances.

After all, Chelsea's caution was a bit excessive, but the effect was good—when dealing with Chen Hero, too much caution wasn't enough. If they had defended according to normal standards, Chen Hero might have already scored.

"Advocaat's caution is justified. He was Chen Hero's coach when he first debuted, and he knows Chen Hero's abilities and potential better than anyone else. That's why he made this arrangement. And this arrangement has effectively curbed Chen Hero and Liverpool's performance… It seems that the only way to deal with someone is to have someone who knows them best…"

The commentators had a point, but they seemed to have forgotten that Chen Hero had one weapon that could break through the goal no matter how careful you were…

That was his free kick.

No matter how careful you are, you can't avoid committing fouls…

You can commit fewer fouls in dangerous areas, but it's not something you can control.

Back when Barcelona was sweeping across European football, many teams defending against them faced the same problem—if they didn't commit fouls, their defense in front of the penalty area would be too loose, giving Barcelona players plenty of space to operate and allowing them to easily enter the penalty area with short passes. If the defense was too tight, it would be easy to commit fouls and get booked, giving the opponent a free kick and burdening themselves with a yellow card, bringing many problems to future defense.

Trying to control it only makes it uncontrollable, because you never know if the foul is worth it. What if you don't commit the foul and let the opponent into the penalty area? If you commit the foul but the opponent uses the free kick to score, who's to blame?

Okay, even if you can strictly control it, even if you can guarantee not committing fouls in front of the penalty area, so what?

Chen Hero isn't like other free kick takers; his original range can reach forty meters! And it doesn't matter how skewed the angle is.

With such a huge free kick range, how can you strictly control it?

It's already difficult enough to control fouls in the area in front of the penalty box, let alone almost half the field…

Therefore, when Spearing was tripped by Mikel thirty-eight meters from the goal, earning a free kick for Liverpool, it was perfectly normal.

But even Mikel, who committed the foul, didn't realize what this foul meant for Chelsea and himself.

That's pretty normal, thirty-eight meters is too far.

Although we say Chen Hero's free kick range can reach up to forty meters.

But that's the theoretical range. Theoretical range and effective range are not the same concept.

Like an assault rifle, the theoretical range is one thousand meters, but the effective kill range may only be five hundred meters, and the optimal kill range may only be over one hundred meters…

Therefore, Chen Hero's theoretical range is forty meters, but that doesn't mean his effective kill range is also forty meters. It just means that within those forty meters, his free kicks are still considered threatening. However, the optimal range is not that number, but thirty-three to thirty-five meters. Thirty-five meters is the best, because the distance is far enough for him to exert force, while also giving his falling leaf ball enough time and space to fly and drop.

Thirty-eight meters is only three meters away from thirty-five meters, but these three meters are the dividing line between a guaranteed goal and a threatening shot.

※※※

Mikel didn't even waste time after committing the foul, he quickly got up from the ground, then turned and ran back.

The referee signaled for Liverpool to take the free kick.

Chen Hero ran back from the front.

Sure enough, he was taking it, no doubt about it. In this Liverpool reserve team, Chen Hero was the best free kick taker. Who would dare compete with him?

Chen Hero ran back, took the ball from Spearing, and placed it at the spot of the foul.

Looking from his position, the goal seemed far away. The originally large goal now looked like a window.

Plus, there were people blocking the way, so it wouldn't be easy to kick the ball in.

But these weren't problems for Chen Hero. He had practiced free kicks in the instance for as long as a year, and still occasionally did extra training.

And the best thing about the instance was that it could simulate the situation on the field according to his requirements and ideas. So no matter the position, distance, angle, or wall formation, he had tried it all. He even had the wall made up of ten people, just short of having the wall do acrobatics or form a Shaolin Eighteen Bronze Men formation…

Because he had experienced almost all the free kick situations he could think of in the instance, he was able to find ways to deal with free kicks in the game.

What was thirty-seven meters? He had even tried kicking a direct free kick from the center circle in his own half… It was just that the success rate was very low.

But compared to that, thirty-seven meters wasn't far at all.

※※※

Because the distance was too far, only four people stood in Chelsea's wall.

Attackers like Hulk didn't even return to the penalty area to defend, but stayed in the front, closer to Liverpool's goal than Chen Hero, waiting for the opportunity to counterattack.

Chelsea had a point in doing this. After all, Liverpool hadn't sent many people up themselves…

These set pieces were the easiest for the opponent to seize the opportunity to counterattack, so to ensure that the defense wouldn't fall apart, Martin O'Neill asked the reserve team players not to go up even for set pieces, even corners… Because having Chen Hero up front was enough. Did they think that if these people went up, Chelsea would abandon Chen Hero to defend them, thereby reducing some of the defensive pressure on Chen Hero?

Impossible, they didn't take the reserve team's attack seriously at all.

In that case, why should their players waste their energy going up, and give the opponent a chance to counterattack?

So even for this free kick, not many Liverpool players went up. Only one winger symbolically made a show of it in the front, while the others stayed in the back.

Faced with this strange situation, why would Chelsea players come back to defend?

The commentator was stunned by this scene: "Liverpool's free kick opportunity… but the Liverpool players don't seem very enthusiastic… Should we say they are too confident in Chen Hero's scoring ability? Or too unconfident? So they all stayed in the back, to prevent Chelsea's counterattack…"

As he spoke, the referee stepped back and blew the whistle.

Chen Hero leaned forward, took a run-up, and then his right leg lashed at the ball like a whip.

Like the launch of a Tomahawk cruise missile, the sky filled with killing intent, like the smoke and dust after the missile launch. The football howled as it rushed towards the sky, as if to pierce the clouds.

During the flight, the football constantly corrected its course, always keeping itself facing the target.

When it reached the highest point, the football had long since passed over the wall.

As it howled past the wall, the Chelsea players on the wall could only look up at it, watching it go away.

Then it began to fall, fall, fall!

Falling rapidly!

Diving headfirst.

But the height was still very high, as if it could fly over the crossbar at any time…

But only at this height could it avoid Cech's fingertips.

So when Cech leaped up, his hand didn't touch the football.

After dodging Cech's interception, the football continued to fall at high speed.

Finally, it brushed against the lower edge of the crossbar and drilled into the goal!

A dead corner!