Chapter 62: I must Appear

CSKA Moscow head coach Valery Gazzaev always took his upcoming opponents seriously, so after the match with Rostov, he called assistant coach Ratish to watch Zenit St. Petersburg's game video with him.

If there was any team outside of Moscow that could threaten CSKA's position, it had to be Zenit St. Petersburg.

In a sense, the Russian Premier League was also known as the "Greater Moscow League." There were a total of 16 teams in the Russian Premier League, and five of them were located in the Greater Moscow area - CSKA Moscow, Dynamo Moscow, Spartak Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow, and FC Moscow.

For a long time, the league championship had been monopolized by teams from the Moscow region.

But after Zenit St. Petersburg received huge sponsorship from Gazprom at the end of last year, it became their main competitor.

Zenit had homegrown stars like Arshavin, who would be the main weapon to attack the Moscow forces.

But for Gasaev that day, he was more concerned about another person, the No. 99 player who was in great form some time ago, scoring five goals in three league games.

"I don't think we have anything to worry about, Valeri," Latish said. He had not watched Chen Yingxiong's game video and only heard about this person. Suffice to say he was not impressed. A rookie scoring so much? It could only be luck. "Other teams in the Russian Premier League have found ways to deal with him. We think it is better to focus on Arshavin."

"Let's take a look at it first," Valery Gasaev said carefully and put the tape into the machine.

The TV screen quickly lit up.

The match in the video was between Zenit St. Petersburg and Spartak Moscow. This was the first match in which Chen Yingxiong did not score a goal. This match was also the subject of research by Zenit's future opponents.

The Soviet Wings only provided a prototype of "how to contain Chen Yingxiong," while Sparta developed this prototype and perfected it into a tactical system.

Latecomers didn't need to do any other work, just copy it directly.

In the video, facing the three-dimensional defensive system of Spartak Moscow, Chen Yingxiong rushed left and right but could not find a breakthrough.

"It is indeed a very fitting defensive strategy..." Gasaev nodded. The tactics provided by Sparta were perfect. He felt that there was nothing to adjust. He would just let the team do it. Sparta was the real historic aristocrat of Russian football, but now the strongest team in Russian football was CSKA. If Sparta could do it, there was no reason why CSKA couldn't

CSKA's defence was at the Russian national team level, with one centre-back and two side-backs, who were all main players of the Russian national team, and one was a Lithuanian international. Such a defence was no worse than Sparta's.

Gasaev was thinking about how to use Sparta's tactics to contain Chen Yingxiong, while Latish was surprised. Fortunately, Gasaev was focused on studying Chen Yingxiong and didn't pay attention to the assistant beside him. Otherwise, he might have asked about a "history" that was almost forgotten...

The figure of No. 99 in the video reminded Latish of what happened at the youth team training ground a few months ago.

In fact, he had already forgotten the story. Although the Chinese boy was a little arrogant, Latish was busy with many things every day. How could he keep an unknown person in mind for so long?

But today's video made him remember again - wasn't this the Chinese kid who came to us to ask for a tryout?

How did he end up at Zenit?

Was he the one who scored five goals in three league games?!

He was the one who completed a hat trick against Wings of the Soviets?!

Latish thought he really saw a ghost...

But fortunately, the situation was fixed now... Should he say that character determined fate? Arrogance only prequeled misery... Ratish felt much better seeing Chen Yingxiong in such a mess...

…

On the training ground at Udney Park training base.

Goalkeeper Malafeev was lying on the ground. Instead of looking at the football in the goal behind him, he turned his head and stared blankly outside the penalty area.

The others did the same thing as him - they turned their heads and cast their gazes at the person who had just shot the long shot, Chen Yingxiong.

Even the expressions on their faces were highly uniform—mouths open, eyes wide open, necks stretched out like turtles.

Assistant coach Porter, who served as the temporary referee, was also frightened by what had just happened and even forgot to blow the whistle.

Under everyone's gaze, Chen Yingxiong raised his arms and cheered. "Yeah!!!"

The reason why he was so happy was that he finally had another weapon to score!

Just two days ago, he levelled up again. With his superhuman will and stamina, he had gained 120,000 experience points in seven days, and was already level seven.

He had quickly put the talent point in "heavy artillery," and now his long-range shot success rate was already 14% just from his talent. Add to that his original 10% and the percentage accumulated from hard training during this period. Now, his long-range shot success rate was almost at 30%. In other words, he could basically score three out of ten shots.

For this reason, he tested it in today's team match. Just now, he shot the ball into the goal from a distance of about 27 meters.

A very beautiful long shot!

The football made a slight arc and went straight to the upper left corner of the goal. Goalkeeper Malafeev jumped after it but was unable to catch the football.

It wasn't that he wasn't strong enough, but that Chen Yingxiong's kick was too fast and powerful…

His teammates looked at Chen Yingxiong in surprise.

Chen Yingxiong's only ability before was his superb header. Everything else was a mess. But just when everyone had accepted this impression, he suddenly fired a powerful long shot!

How could it not be surprising? You know, Chen Yingxiong had never tried long shots in a game before. He obviously knew the level of his long shots.

Chen Yingxiong felt so happy when he saw the ball whizzing into the goal!

When it was most needed, the heavy artillery was in action! Why was this time when it was most needed? Just look at Tekke standing on the field now, and you will know...

Originally, everyone thought that Tekke had injured his thigh muscle and would not be able to return so soon. Who would have thought that the sense of crisis that Chen Yingxiong gave Tekke never dissipated, so he tried his best to recover and actually returned before the game against CSKA Moscow!

This news was definitely a blow to Chen Yingxiong. He would never give anything in his hand to anyone, even if that person was his teammate!

This was Chen Yingxiong's temper. The starting position was his, and he didn't want to give it up easily. He was actually very utilitarian. He didn't want to be some crappy super substitute. If you come to play football and can't start, it means you are a failure.

In order to start, he needed something that could impress the head coach. Just like he won the battle for the starting position with Panov with his header, this time, he would rely on his "heavy artillery"!

What's more, he had a reason to start - in the next round, Zenit St. Petersburg's opponent was CSKA Moscow! It was never too late for a gentleman to take revenge.

I can't wait ten years, I will deal with the Central Army now! Chen Yingxiong clenched his fists. The insults, ridicules, and teasing that he and his father had suffered at the training ground of CSKA Moscow were like a huge rock pressing on Chen Yingxiong's heart, oppressing him day and night and making him breathless. Even when he was proud, there was a voice deep in his heart that kept repeating. "CSKA Moscow, CSKA Moscow, CSKA Moscow..."

Chen Yingxiong blamed all the humiliation and ridicule he had endured over the past half month on the Moscow Central Army. He would never be a hero if he didn't avenge himself! …

...

Advocaat had just returned to his office when he heard a knock on the door. "Come in." He thought it was his assistant coach Porter or some other coach, but the person who pushed the door open made him stunned. It was Chen Yingxiong, who had just come down from the training ground and had not had time to change his clothes. This kid always seemed to like to go directly to the head coach...

"What's up, Hero?" Advocaat asked.

"I would like to request to be allowed to start in the league game this weekend, sir!" Chen Yingxiong said to Advocaat after he came in.

"Why?" Advocaat was not surprised or angry but smiled. He knew that this was Chen Yingxiong's style.

"I must play in the match against CSKA Moscow, sir! Because... I want revenge!" Chen Yingxiong said loudly with his fists clenched.

"Revenge?" Advocaat was surprised this time. "What's your connection with CSKA Moscow?" He had heard that Chen Yingxiong was found by Panchenko from outside the training base of the CSKA Moscow, but he didn't know what happened there.

Chen Yingxiong told Advocaat the story of before he came to Zenit, even including his experiences in domestic clubs and his wanderings in Europe. As Advocaat listened, his mouth widened and widened until he couldn't close it anymore. He never would have thought that Chen Yingxiong had experienced such a journey...

He was kicked out of the team because someone tried to injure him and he retaliated, and then he went to Europe to make a living, promoting himself, but he was rejected all the way. In the end, he finally came to CSKA Moscow, but was humiliated and teased.... Advocaat felt that he more or less understood why Chen Yingxiong had to play in the match against CSKA Moscow.

However, he was the head coach of the team, and he should consider the problem more from the perspective of the team as a whole. "I can give you a chance, hero. But if you still can't score..."

"Just replace me!" Chen Yingxiong said firmly, leaving no room for retreat.

"Give me 45 minutes. If I don't score in the first half, you can replace me during the halftime break!" Advocaat didn't expect Chen Yingxiong to be so bold as to ask for only 45 minutes of performance time...

Was he confident, or was he just missing something? He thought about it and decided that it wouldn't do him any harm anyway. Even if Chen Yingxiong couldn't score, he still had 45 minutes to make adjustments.

From this perspective, Chen Yingxiong was quite considerate of him as the head coach by revealing this information.

"Okay." Advocaat nodded. "I'll give you this chance!"