Chapter 1 When Chen Hero Scored

When Chen Hero scored, Potter still reflexively jumped up and cheered, but he quickly realized a problem and turned to look at Advocaat, who was also cheering. Sensing his assistant's gaze, Advocaat naturally knew what Potter meant by looking at him.

"He needs three goals," he said to Potter.

Yes, for the fans of St. Petersburg Zenit, this one goal was enough for them to celebrate for a while. For the players of Soviet Wings, this one goal conceded was enough to make them feel uneasy and depressed for a long time. But for Chen Hero, this one goal was of no help at all!

He still had to score two more goals.

As mentioned before, if the difficulty of scoring one goal in a match is one hundred, then the difficulty of scoring two goals is one hundred squared, which is ten thousand.

Even with such difficulty, Chen Hero had to complete it.

After the game restarted, Zenit took advantage of the low mood of Soviet Wings after conceding a goal to launch a fierce attack, intending to score another goal while they had the chance. If Chen Hero could score the second goal in this offensive, then a hat trick would not be far away.

But Khusin and Booth were like tightly closed, heavy city gates. Faced with Chen Hero's repeated impacts, they stubbornly defended the goal behind them. Occasionally, a few escaped, but because Chen Hero put all his energy into the contest with Khusin and Booth, the quality of the attacks was not very high. Robles could handle them.

Until the end of the first half, Chen Hero had not been able to score, and Zenit had not been able to score. The score remained at 1:0.

During the half-time break, those reporters who had confidently declared that Chen Hero was not in good shape were frowning and thinking about how they would twist this statement back in the next day's newspaper. They had said that he was not in good shape before, but he had scored again in this game, scoring in three consecutive games. No matter what, this had nothing to do with "not in good shape," right?

But to say that Chen Hero was in good shape would be equivalent to admitting that their previous accusations about Chen Hero's nightlife leading to a decline in form were unfounded, wouldn't it?

Could they do that? This concerned their face, and it would be too embarrassing to say that!

After thinking it over and over, these reporters came up with a trick, which was... to claim that scoring a goal did not mean that the state was excellent. Some players were sleepwalking on the field for eighty-nine minutes, and then scored a goal in the last minute. Could this be considered excellent? Absolutely not!

Chen Hero was actually like this too. His performance before he scored the goal could not be considered excellent. He obviously encountered great resistance in the attack, and Booth and Khusin both caused him a lot of trouble. It could be seen that Chen Hero, this rookie, seemed inexperienced in dealing with these defenders.

So if there hadn't been this goal in the first half, Chen Hero's performance would not have been considered excellent.

Even that goal... many people would attribute it to a "lucky goal." As everyone saw it, Chen Hero jumped up, then collided with Matthew Booth, and then the football flew into the goal...

What was that? Who knew who bumped it in. Even if Chen Hero bumped it in, it could only show that he was lucky, and could not show that he was in good shape...

As expected of people who play with pens, they managed to make something unreasonable seem reasonable in their minds. It was as if Chen Hero really scored this goal because of luck.

"To be honest, scoring three goals in three consecutive games, this happened to an eighteen-year-old novice, if it wasn't luck, I really wouldn't believe it!" The old reporter, who was full of wrinkles and looked very knowledgeable, puffed out a cloud of smoke and shrugged.

During the half-time break, the atmosphere in the Zenit dressing room, which was leading, seemed a little strange.

Advocaat said, "I think you are all experienced professional players, except for one person." Everyone knew who that person was.

"You shouldn't fail to see the weaknesses of the opponent's defense, right? So I am very disappointed with your performance in the first half, but I know you have your reasons. Therefore, one thing that makes me very happy from this matter is that the team is very united."

"What else can I say? You all know what to do next, right?"

After saying that, Advocaat opened the door of the locker room and walked out, leaving all the remaining time to the players themselves.

Chen Hero became the protagonist, and he thanked his teammates who supported him in the locker room one by one.

This game was so important to him that he even thanked the Koreans...

"Do well, it's just one goal, it's not enough!" Arshavin patted him on the arm.

"Yes, score more goals! Score goals!" Denisov shouted loudly.

Denisov's words were still echoing in his ears, but this was just his good wish.

After the second half of the game started, Chen Hero encountered even greater defensive pressure.

Gadzhaev absorbed the experience and lessons of the first half, and Booth and Khusin joined forces to defend, building an almost insurmountable wall in front of Chen Hero.

Ten minutes passed, the score was 1:0, and St. Petersburg Zenit, playing at home, was leading.

Twenty minutes passed, the score was still 1:0, and St. Petersburg was leading.

Thirty minutes passed, and the score on the big screen had not changed, as if it were asleep.

"Seventy-five minutes of the game have passed, the score is still 1:0, Soviet Wings has begun to have some counter-attacks, they obviously do not want to lose by a small margin of one goal on the road. If there is a chance, they still want to score a goal to tie the score, and even eventually reverse the defeat!"

The commentator Shirgayevski was right, Soviet Wings did have this idea now. Since the score had not changed for thirty minutes since the second half, it showed that their defense was successful. Now they knew what to do next, they were all professional players.

Of course, it was a counter-attack! Only one goal behind, this was a very big temptation. As long as they could score one goal, they could tie the score, and if they scored two goals, they could reverse the defeat! St. Petersburg Zenit had besieged them for so long, how wonderful it would be if they were the ones to take away three points in the end! At this time of relegation, they desperately needed every point.

Chen Hero's white and blue-edged Zenit jersey had been thrown into grass green and soil brown. In this game, he had made countless physical contacts with the two central defenders. This was the only way he could think of. As a result, there was no part of his body that didn't hurt... No, there was, because it was numb.

And he had not been able to score his second goal.

There were fifteen minutes left before the end of the game. If he could not score two goals in these fifteen minutes, he would not be able to complete a hat trick. He knew better than anyone what the consequences of not completing a hat trick were.

Perhaps in the eyes of outsiders, being able to score in three consecutive games was already very remarkable. But no one knew what Chen Hero was pursuing behind his repeated stubborn charges against the Soviet Wings defense.

Hat trick, this crazy idea, occupied more and more space in his mind. Now he didn't think about anything except scoring goals and completing a hat trick.

The Zenit fans in the stands were still constantly shouting and cheering for the team. He knew that the score of 1:0 was very dangerous, and the opponent could score a goal at any time through a counter-attack and tie the score. At that time, it would definitely be a heavy blow to Zenit's morale.

As a center forward, at this time, he needed to stand up, score goals as soon as possible, stabilize the morale of the army, and hit the arrogant arrogance of Soviet Wings.

Score a goal! Score a goal! Score a goal!!

Anyukov forcibly broke through on the wing and then crossed, but the football was blocked by the Soviet Wings' fullback. He had been closely following Anyukov before, and did not act rashly until the last moment when he made a defensive move.

This was also one of Gadzhaev's adjustments - strictly defending the two wings and not allowing St. Petersburg Zenit to easily start the ball from the wings, directly cutting off the blood supply to Chen Hero. This greatly reduced the opportunities Chen Hero got, which was also a major reason why he had not been able to score in the thirty minutes of the second half.

Advocaat took all of this into his eyes on the sidelines.

He had discovered it. The impact that Chen Hero had brought to the league's teams after his debut was gradually fading. More and more teams were paying attention to him. It was not difficult for interested clubs to get the recordings of these three games, especially those giants in the capital Moscow.

Through video analysis, they would easily see Chen Hero's weakness, that is, he was useless except for headers... It was not difficult for those experienced coaches to deal with such a striker with single characteristics.

What to do then?

Advocaat didn't have time to think too much about this issue, because the current game was more important.

Anyukov's breakthrough cross was blocked by the opponent's fullback, which gave Zenit a corner kick opportunity.

After the opponent strictly defended the wings, this was a good opportunity for Zenit to score from a set piece.

Denisov was anxious for Chen Hero on the sidelines. He had even stood up involuntarily and looked into the Soviet Wings' penalty area.

As a center forward, Chen Hero stood in front of the goal, raising his hands to show his position to his teammates. However, this also attracted the Soviet Wings' defenders to him.

Matthew Booth and Andrei Khusin sandwiched him in the middle, one in front and one behind.

This was the common way they defended Chen Hero in the second half. In the last game against Vladivostok Luch-Energiya, Chen Hero still created scoring opportunities for Arshavin under the double-teaming of the two. But that was because the level of the opponent's two central defenders was too poor...

They both use double-teaming defense, but the strength of the defenders is different, and the pressure on him is different.

Despite this, Chen Hero still did not back down, he just stood there, waiting for his teammates to pass the football over.

Anyukov saw Chen Hero raise his arms and knew that he was asking for the ball. But...

According to what they had practiced in previous training, Chen Hero made a pull and then passed the football to the vicinity of the penalty spot to provide opportunities for the back-inserted defenders to head the ball. But these were useless today, because they had to find a way to create opportunities for Chen Hero to complete a hat trick.

Chen Hero may have seen Anyukov's hesitation. He put down his hand and turned his head to look at the surrounding situation - there were people on both sides, so it was really difficult for Anyukov to pass the ball over for him to compete for the header...

His talent skill gave him super header ability, but he couldn't do everything, and some things had to be solved by himself. Like now...

He thought about it and turned to run out.

Matthew Booth and Andrei Khusin glanced at each other - was this guy trying to avoid their defense?

Khusin decided to follow out. But at this moment, he found that Chen Hero did not stop at any point in the penalty area, but ran directly out of the penalty area!

Khusin hesitated. If he followed out, there would be only Booth in front of the goal, which seemed a bit empty... And wouldn't doing so just fall into Zenit's trap? The opponent's number 99 must have done this to open up space - he didn't know that besides Chen Hero, Anyukov would not pass the football to anyone, so he could have followed out with confidence.

But now, he hesitated for a moment and then turned around and ran back.

What was the use of a center forward who left the penalty area?

Denisov frowned when he saw Chen Hero like this on the sidelines.

"Is this bastard going to give up?"

Not far away, Advocaat watched Chen Hero with interest. He was very interested in the boy's sudden choice - what did this boy, who always made amazing moves and always had amazing words, want to do?

"Ah... Let's see what happened? Hero suddenly left the front of the goal. As a center forward, he retreated to... retreated outside the penalty area! What is he going to do? So far away from the goal, what threat does he still have?"

The commentator Shirgayevski's surprised question came from the TV.

But Yesenin, who was sitting on the sofa, laughed when he saw this scene.

He wasn't sure what Chen Hero was going to do, but he was sure that something would happen next...

Chen Hero retreated to the outside of the penalty arc before stopping, and then he looked at the corner flag area. Anyukov was also looking at him, with a surprised and questioning expression on his face.

Chen Hero made a gesture to him: pass the ball to the front of the goal as planned!

Although Anyukov didn't know what Chen Hero wanted to do, it seemed that he could only pass the ball to the front of the goal now...

So he took a step back and prepared to start the ball.

Just as he ran up and kicked the football, Chen Hero, who was originally standing outside the penalty area, jumped in place, then took a deep breath, and rushed into the penalty area straight as if he were sprinting for a penalty kick!

There was a teammate of his in front of him... It was the Korean Lee Ho.

Chen Hero staggered a step slightly, and then put his hands on Lee Ho's shoulders while sprinting at high speed!

His feet exerted force and he pushed off!

Hero takes off!

Lee Ho only felt his body sink, and before he could react to what had just happened, a figure flew past his side...

"Whoa--" The commentator Shirgayevski exclaimed, and at this moment he knew why Chen Hero had done what he had just done... Aircraft takeoffs require a runway of sufficient length, and so does this hero!

Seeing the football flying towards the front of the goal, the central defenders Booth and Khusin jumped up, one in front and one behind, to ensure that the ball would not leak.

At this moment, Booth caught a glimpse of a black shadow suddenly appearing in the air out of the corner of his eye!

A huge cheer rang out from the stands of Kirov Stadium, scaring him.

Was something... about to happen?

Chen Hero's body was almost tilted in the air, his head was in the front and his feet were still dragging behind, and in this posture, he shot towards the football!

There were still two people in front of him, the same two people, like tightly closed city gates.

He had been defeated before, but this time, he must... blast this door open!

The extremely accurate judgment of the football's landing point allowed Chen Hero to head the football first! Flicking his head!

After heading the football out, his whole body crashed into Booth and Khusin. His shoulder hit Booth's chest, followed by a swing of his waist, and his thighs and knees hit Khusin's body. Just like a car crashing into a wall, deforming and twisting, and then releasing all the energy!

The three men crashed to the ground, and what about the football?

It was already in the goal!

The second one!