Football System: Penalty Zone Hero

Chen Yingxiong found that he had thought professional football too simple.

If it weren't for the help of Mr. Aurora, his level would still be in the youth team or the reserve team. It was entirely because of this upgrade system that he was able to win the favour of the head coach and appear in this game.

In other words, apart from his heading ability, Chen Yingxiong's other abilities did not actually meet the requirements of the Russian professional league.

But it was such a freak who was now running in the professional league, desperately looking for opportunities.

It was a pity that most of the time, he just ran.

Run.

Run...

When Zenit attacked, he ran up.

When the opponent attacked, he ran back.

Although he returned to defence, his contribution to defence was extremely low. After all, he was a centre forward, a centre forward who had never defended, at that.

Twenty minutes into the game, he still had no chance to perform. If anyone had been paying attention to him, there would have been only one evaluation of him - he was trying very hard but running around like a headless fly.

The commentator was quite interested in him at first, after all, he was a player from China. He was so big that it was hard to ignore him. In addition, he had a very big number on his back - "99"! 

But as the game went on, people's attention to him gradually decreased and finally disappeared. Why?

Because he didn't perform well at all.

Because of Kerzakov, Zenit has been playing ground cooperation, and Chen Yingxiong's footwork was not suitable for such a tactic.

Without the opportunity to perform, there would naturally be no close-up shots in the TV broadcasts.

On the court, everyone would only pay attention to the players who had the ball, and the players who didn't have the ball would automatically disappear from sight.

Chen Yingxiong certainly understood his current situation. He had to show some performance as soon as possible, otherwise he would undoubtedly be replaced early by the head coach.

He didn't want the opportunity he had worked so hard for to slip away like that.

Why did I work so hard? Was it just to come here and embarrass myself?

…

Sparta Nalchik and Zenit were evenly matched, and the head coach of Sparta Nalchik has arranged very targeted tactics.

After learning that Tekke was injured, he studied the characteristics of Zenit's other forwards and found that they were all fast and agile forwards. Such forwards needed space to be given to them in order to exert their power. So, wouldn't it be smart if he didn't give them space?

Therefore, in this game, Spartak Narcchika adopted a strategy of tightening up defense and then waiting for an opportunity to counterattack. They huddled together in the backcourt, not giving Zenit's forwards the opportunity to use their speed advantage.

When the players from both sides entered the field, the head coach of Spartak Nalchik was quite surprised when he saw Chen Yingxiong in the Zenit lineup - just looking at his physique, you could tell that this guy was completely different from Kerzakov.

At that time, he was still worried about how to deal with Chen Yingxiong.

Now he was not worried. Judging from the performance in the past 20 minutes, No. 99's was a very average player, or maybe even a bad one.

It was obvious that his coordination with the whole team was not smooth enough, and that his own level was still a little lacking.

In fact, the evaluation of the head coach of Sparta Narcchi was quite polite.

Some Zenit fans in the stands were already discussing. "Who is that No. 99?"

"Is this performance good enough for him to start in the Super League?"

"I wrongly blamed Li Hao. He is not Advocat's brother-in-law. This No. 99 is!"

Only a very, very, very small number of fans would remember that when they were watching youth team games, there was such a big guy who was very good at heading.

Later they never saw him in the youth team again, it turned out that he was transferred to the first team.

…

The number 99 had become the focus of everyone's discussion, but the number itself was indeed impressive.

In fact, there were only three normal numbers in the entire Zenit St. Petersburg team - No. 1, Kontefalski, he was the goalkeeper, No. 10 Arshavin, he was the core of the midfield, and No. 11 Kerzakov, he was a fast forward.

As for the rest... those classic numbers were no longer used at Zenit.

The centre forward number 9 belonged to the backup defensive midfielder Radka Hill, and the front player number 8 belonged to the left back Pavel Maresh. The captain of the team, Radimov, wore the number 2 jersey, which made people think that he was a central defender, but in fact he was an midfielder. The team's main striker, Tekke, wore the number 61 jersey. As for the numbers 88, 87, 78, 44, etc., these numbers had been taken as well.

Chen Yingxiong wanted to wear the No. 9 jersey. He wore the No. 9 jersey when he was in the youth team of his previous club. It was a classic centre number and symbolized ability. But the No. 9 jersey already belonged to Hill. He couldn't ask him to give up the number and give it to him right away. He didn't have the qualifications.

So he had to settle for the next best thing. If he couldn't choose one number 9, he would choose two numbers 9. And 99 was the largest number among all the numbers. It was impossible to have a three-digit number.

I can't be the best player yet, but I can make my number the best among all players.

With this idea in mind, Chen Yingxiong chose the exaggeratedly large number 99.

…

Now, the most powerful number of them all is facing a crisis.

Zenit's previous tactical style was to play on the ground because they had technical players such as Radimov, Arshavin, Kerzakov, etc.

This did not change after Advocaat took over as coach and continued Zenit's style.

But now their tactics are encountering difficulties.

Advocaat saw it all clearly from the sidelines.

He looked down at his watch and saw that the game had already been running for twenty-five minutes.

During this period, their team basically did not get any decent shooting opportunities. Although Zenit was able to form a siege when attacking, Sparta Nalchik's defence was very solid and their counterattacks were particularly sharp, which caused Zenit to not dare to attack with all their strength.

Advocaat also saw that Chen Yingxiong was a player who was good at nothing except heading. Luckily it was that header that was the offensive weapon that the team lacked and needed the most...

He decided to change tactics.

Taking advantage of a dead ball opportunity, he called Arshavin to his side. "Andrei, we won't go on the ground, we'll go in the air. Tell them that after getting the ball in the backcourt, they can directly pass the ball to Hero. The two wingers must be fully utilized, and then cross the ball from the wing to send the ball from the air to the opponent's goal... Pass the ball to Hero and let him head the ball!"

Arshavin certainly knew that Chen Yingxiong was good at heading as he had demonstrated his heading ability to the fullest in training. Everyone also knew that Chen Yingxiong was selected for the first team because of the technical flexibility that he offered.

Zenit's top star nodded and ran back onto the pitch.

…

When Chen Yingxiong was feeling unhappy with his performance, he saw the ball being passed to the frontcourt to Radimov.

At times like this before, the football would definitely go through a series of ground coordination passes and eventually try to get into the penalty area.

But this time, he found that Radimov passed the ball to Arshavin on the wing without hesitation!

A familiar scene came to his mind - during the team competition, their substitute group used this tactic to fight against the main group.

Go to the wing, then pass the ball to the middle!

Chen Yingxiong turned around and started chasing!

My chance has come!!

He wanted to shout with excitement.

…

"Arshavin gets the ball!" the commentator shouted.

The fans in the stands also shouted excitedly. "Shava! Shava! Shava!!"

Arshavin's status could be seen from this.

Whenever he got the ball, everyone became full of expectations.

For example, sometimes he showed off his footwork skills, made a beautiful sudden stop and turn while dribbling at high speed, shook off the pursuers, broke into the penalty area, and then lightly sent the ball into the empty space, allowing his teammates to easily shoot and score.

…

"Be careful of his breakthrough!" The players of Spartak Nalchik shouted loudly, reminding their teammates not to let Arshavin in easily.

Chen Yingxiong rushed into the penalty area, he turned his head to look at Arshavin's movements.

Soon he reached the penalty area line.

Arshavin was dribbling the ball while observing the situation in the middle.

When he saw Chen Yingxiong had rushed to the penalty area line, he feinted and made a fake move to cut inside, causing the full-back who had been following him to suddenly take a step back, giving him space to pass the ball.

Arshavin was no longer polite and made a cross from the side!

The football drew an arc and flew high towards the goal.

 …

Here we come!

The things that should have happened emerged in Chen Yingxiong's mind, and the familiar feeling appeared again.

Here comes my chance to perform!

He was so excited that he couldn't even hide a smile on his face.

…

"Be careful of that big guy!!" It was not until this time that the goalkeeper of Spartak Nalchik remembered that there was more than just Kerzakov in the Zenit team.

As he shouted, Chen Yingxiong pushed hard while sprinting and jumped high!

The central defender guarding the penalty area also jumped up, ready to compete for the header.

When Advocaat saw this scene on the sidelines, he couldn't help but stand up from his seat, lean forward, and look at the court with a focused look on his face.

Yesenin, who was sitting in the stands behind him, also stood up from his seat and stared intently at the field and the goal of Spartak Nalchik with the people around him.

What would happen next?

Everyone had some expectations in their heart.

…

Chen Yingxiong's body was tilted in the air, his head leaning forward, his two hands raised and waving in the air, just like a roc flapping its wings and flying.

Chen Yingxiong's good judgment of the landing point of the football allowed him to get into position before the defender of Nalchik. Now all he had to do was... head the ball in the right place!

Watching the football getting closer and closer, Chen Yingxiong roared in his heart:

I, I want to become famous with one ball!!

The lion shook his head!

Bang!

His forehead hit the football, and at the same time, his neck swung hard towards the goal!

The goalkeeper of Sparta Narcchi jumped up and rushed to the ball! But that was after the ball had already flown into the goal...

…

"The ball…the ball goes in—!!!"

The commentator was stunned for a moment and then started shouting wildly.

After landing, Chen Yingxiong looked back and saw the football spinning on the net, and he knew he had succeeded!

Excited, he did not celebrate the goal with any of his teammates. Instead, he rushed straight to the camera on the sidelines. Then he turned around, faced the camera with his back, raised his hands and pointed to the name behind him.

"HERO"

From today on, remember this name, world!