Chapter 1 Chen Hero Discovers the Reality

Chen Hero realized he had initially thought of professional football too simply.

If not for the help of Mr. Aurora, his level would still be stuck in the youth team or reserves. It was entirely due to this upgrade system that he had the ability to win the coach's favor and appear in this game.

That is to say, apart from his heading ability, Chen Hero's other abilities did not actually meet the requirements of professional leagues.

But such a freak was now running on the field of a professional league, desperately searching for opportunities.

It's just a pity that most of the time, he was just running.

Running.

Running…

When Zenit attacked, he ran up.

When the opponent attacked, he ran back.

Although he fell back to defend, his contribution to the defense was extremely low. After all, he was a center forward, a center forward who never defended, not some defensive striker.

Twenty minutes into the game, he still had no chance to show off. If anyone was paying attention to him, their evaluation would be one word—he was working hard, running around like a headless fly.

The commentators were quite interested in him at first, after all, he was a player from China. And his physique was really too burly. It was impossible to ignore him, plus he was wearing a very, very large number—"99"! Very eye-catching.

But as the game time went on, everyone's attention to him gradually decreased and eventually disappeared. Why?

Because he didn't have any decent performance at all.

Due to Kerzhakov's influence, Zenit had been playing ground passes. Chen Hero's footwork was not suitable for ground play…

Without a chance to perform, he naturally would not appear in the close-up shots of the TV broadcast.

On the field, everyone would only pay attention to the players with the ball, and the players without the ball would automatically disappear from sight.

Chen Hero certainly knew his current situation. He had to come up with some performance as soon as possible, otherwise, it was undoubtedly a matter of time before he would be replaced by the coach in advance.

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

What was I working so hard for? Was it just to come here for a walk and make a fool of myself along the way?

Nalchik Spartak and Zenit were evenly matched, and the coach of Nalchik Spartak 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 speed and agility type forwards. Such forwards needed space to give full play to their power. So wouldn't it be enough to not give them space?

Therefore, Nalchik Spartak adopted a tight defense in this game and then waited for an opportunity to counterattack. They shrank into a ball in the backcourt, not giving Zenit's forwards a chance to use their speed advantage. When counterattacking, they made full use of their speed advantage.

When the players from both sides entered the field, the coach of Nalchik Spartak was very surprised when he saw Chen Hero in Zenit's lineup—just looking at his body, he knew that this kid was completely different from Kerzhakov.

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

Now he was not worried. Judging from the performance of the first twenty minutes of the game, No. 99's performance was very, very average, even unremarkable.

His cooperation with the whole team was obviously not tacit enough, and his own level was still somewhat lacking.

In fact, the coach of Nalchik Spartak's evaluation was already quite polite.

On the stands, some Zenit fans were already talking about it: "Who exactly is that No. 99?"

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

"I wrongly blamed Li Hao. He's not Advocaat's brother-in-law, that No. 99 is!"

Only a very, very, very small number of fans would remember that when they watched youth team games, there was such a big guy, and his header was very good.

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

No. 99 had become the focus of everyone's discussion, but the number itself was indeed impressive.

In fact, only three numbers in the entire Zenit St. Petersburg team were normal—No. 1, Kontarfalski, he was a goalkeeper. No. 10 Arshavin, he was the core of the midfield. No. 11 Kerzhakov, he was a fast striker.

As for the others… those classic numbers in Zenit no longer had the meaning of classic.

The number 9 for the center forward belonged to the substitute defensive midfielder Radica Ciril, and the number 8 for the frontcourt player belonged to the left back Pavel Mareš. And the team's captain, Radimov, wore the No. 2 jersey, which would definitely make people think he was a central defender, but in reality, he was an attacking midfielder. The team's main shooter, Tekke, wore the No. 61 jersey, as for what No. 88, No. 87, No. 78, No. 44… these numbers were all "taken."

Chen Hero originally wanted No. 9. He wore the No. 9 jersey in the youth team of the domestic club. This was a classic center forward number, symbolizing ability. But No. 9 already belonged to Ciril. He couldn't just go up and ask him to give up this number to him, right? He didn't have the qualifications.

So he had to settle for second best. If he couldn't choose one No. 9, then he would choose two No. 9s. And No. 99 was also the largest of all numbers. It was impossible for there to be a three-digit number.

If he couldn't be the most awesome of all players now, then he could make his number the most awesome of all players.

With this in mind, Chen Hero chose the exaggerated number 99.

Now, this most awesome number of all was facing a crisis.

Zenit's previous tactical style was to play ground passes, because they had Radimov, Arshavin, Kerzhakov, and other technical players.

After Advocaat took office as coach, he did not change this and continued Zenit's style.

But now their tactics were encountering difficulties.

Advocaat watched clearly from the sidelines.

He looked down at his watch. The game had started for twenty-five minutes.

During this period, his team had basically not obtained any decent shooting opportunities. Although Zenit could form a siege when attacking, Nalchik Spartak's defense was very solid, and the counterattacks were particularly sharp, which caused Zenit to not dare to fully press forward to attack.

Advocaat also saw that Chen Hero was a player who was useless except for heading. But that header was exactly what the team lacked, the most needed offensive weapon…

He decided to change the tactics.

Taking advantage of a dead ball opportunity, he called Arshavin to his side: "Andrei, we're not playing on the ground, we're going to the air. Tell them that after getting the ball in the backcourt, they can directly make long passes to find Hero. The two wings must be fully utilized, and then cross from the wings, sending the football from the air to the opponent's goal… pass the ball to Hero, let him use his header!"

Arshavin certainly knew how powerful Chen Hero's header was. This kid had shown his header ability to the fullest in training. Everyone also knew that Chen Hero was selected for the first team because he possessed an indestructible header.

The Zenit's number one star nodded, and then ran back to the field.

When Chen Hero was feeling upset about his performance, he saw the football being passed to the frontcourt, with Radimov controlling the ball.

Before, at this time, the football would definitely go through a series of ground passes, and finally try to pass it into the penalty area.

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

A familiar scene appeared in his mind—during the team matches, their substitute team used this tactic to fight against the main team.

Go to the wing, and then cross from the wing to the middle!

Chen Hero turned around and sprinted!

My chance is here!!

He excitedly wanted to shout.

"Arshavin gets the ball!" the commentator shouted.

The fans in the stands also let out excited cheers. "Shava! Shava! Shava!!"

Arshavin's status was evident.

As long as he got the ball, everyone expected something to happen.

For example, he would show off his foot skills, then make a beautiful sudden stop and turn at high speed, shake off the pursuers, then break into the penalty area, and then gently send the football into the open space, allowing his teammates to easily shoot and score.

"Watch out for his breakthrough!" Nalchik Spartak's players shouted loudly, reminding their teammates not to easily let Arshavin in.

Chen Hero ran towards the penalty area while turning his head to look at Arshavin's movements.

Soon he rushed to the edge of the penalty area.

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

When he saw that Chen Hero had rushed to the edge of the penalty area, he made a feint, making a fake move to cut directly inside, causing the full-back who had been following him to take a step back, creating space for him to pass the ball.

Arshavin was no longer polite, and directly made a cross from the wing!

The football drew an arc, flying high towards the goal.

Here it comes!

The things that should have appeared in Chen Hero's mind, the familiar feeling appeared again.

My chance to perform is here!

Excited and excited, he even showed an undisguised smile on his face.

"Watch out for that big guy!!" It was not until this time that the goalkeeper of Nalchik Spartak remembered that Zenit St. Petersburg was not just Kerzhakov.

Accompanied by his shouting, Chen Hero exerted force in the sprint, jumping high!

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

Advocaat saw this scene from the sidelines, and he couldn't help but stand up from his seat, leaning forward, looking at the field with a focused expression.

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

What will happen next?

Everyone had such expectations in their hearts.

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

Good judgment of the football's landing point allowed Chen Hero to occupy the position before the Nalchik Spartak defender. Next, he only needed to… head the goal in the right place!

Looking at the football getting closer and closer, Chen Hero roared in his heart:

I, I want to become famous in one shot!!

Lion shakes its head!

Bang!

His forehead smashed into the football, and at the same time, his neck was violently swung towards the goal!

The goalkeeper of Nalchik Spartak jumped up and扑向 the football! But that was after the football flew into the goal…

"Goal… Goal scored——!!!"

The commentator was stunned for a moment, and then shouted frantically.

After landing, Chen Hero turned his head and saw the football spinning in the net, he knew he had succeeded!

Excited, he did not celebrate the goal with any of his teammates, but rushed straight to the camera on the sidelines, then turned around, with his back to the camera, raised his hands, pointing to the name on his back.

"hero"

From today on, remember this name, world!