Chapter 127: The Long Pass and Cross-Cum-Volley

Cai Sheng clenched his fists—he had indeed been outmaneuvered. He had originally intended to use a set-piece to break the deadlock, but the opponent had exploited that very plan, turning the situation around with a swift counterattack to take the lead!

It seemed the opponent had even carefully chosen the spot for that foul. It was far enough away that it posed a threat to their goal, which was precisely why the Qingdao players chose to cross into the box rather than take a direct shot. This left their backline exposed, and had their counterattack after the clearance not been practiced, it could never have been executed with such precision.

The problem was significant now.

Trailing meant they had to attack. For the current Qingdao Haifeng, goal difference was meaningless; the consequences of losing by one goal or ten were exactly the same.

But with their forwards' current capabilities, wouldn't attacking simply give the opponent enough opportunities to counter? The opponent's Du Zhenyu and Wan Rui were both players with great speed and strong individual offensive skills. If they couldn't suppress the opponent with their attack, they would simply be killed off by one counterattack after another.

Changchun Yatai was not looking only at this single match. They had several high-stakes games ahead, and they surely hoped to defeat them with the least amount of effort—perhaps this could be an opportunity.

Thinking of this, Cai Sheng hesitated no longer and looked toward Long Bisheng: "Long Bisheng! Go warm up! Get ready to play!"

Long Bisheng jerked his head up. He had not expected the chance to play to come so soon, but his reaction this time was not sluggish. After confirming that Cai Sheng was indeed calling for him, he nodded immediately and sprinted off the bench.

It was summer, so he already had his jersey and boots on and was ready to warm up immediately.

Cai Sheng gave him only one minute to warm up. By the time he returned to the sidelines, the match had not yet resumed; while the Changchun Yatai players were still celebrating, Qingdao Haifeng had already submitted a substitution request to the fourth official.

"Qingdao Haifeng is requesting a substitution... Number 1 Ricardo off, Number 32 Long Bisheng on..." The Changchun TV commentator scrambled through his notes, though the information at his disposal was limited: "Long Bisheng, a newcomer loaned from the Yunjia Tianyu youth team at the very end of the summer transfer window, position: forward, height... two meters and two centimeters (the commentator let out an exclamation)! Weight: 95 kilograms. Looking at the data, this seems to be a heavy-tank-style player, and he is only seventeen! My god, could China actually produce a Jan Koller-style center forward?"

"That remains to be seen based on his ability," the guest commentator laughed. "Playing football isn't playing basketball. Height doesn't determine everything."

Long Bisheng stood on the sideline, waiting for the foreign player Ricardo to run toward him. After a brief embrace, Long Bisheng stepped onto the pitch.

His height drew a gasp from the local Changchun fans; after all, it was quite rare to see a player over two meters tall on a football field. Although they couldn't directly gauge his height from high up in the stands, the data provided by the commentator was enough to make them exclaim.

Standing at the kickoff spot, Long Bisheng couldn't help but offer a bitter smile—when would he be able to rely on something other than his height to draw such gasps from others? But since no one was familiar with him yet, he would have to prove with his performance on the field that he possessed much more than just height!

After the game restarted, Changchun Yatai's attack was no longer as fierce as it had been in the first half or just moments ago. They had consumed a lot of energy in their previous offensive, and as Cai Sheng had deduced, Changchun Yatai was looking beyond just this match; against a "weak side" like Qingdao Haifeng, the most efficient way to secure three points was what mattered most.

They didn't press manically in the midfield and frontcourt as they had before, instead opting to intercept only after Qingdao Haifeng crossed into their half. This conserved some of their stamina and allowed Qingdao Haifeng to move the ball into their half with ease.

Once across the halfway line, Qingdao Haifeng began to rely on Lu Baozi's individual ability to break through, but Changchun Yatai's defense was not weak, and such individual efforts yielded no results. Long Bisheng, after coming on, rarely received passes from his teammates—after all, they weren't very familiar with him yet. Sending Long Bisheng on hadn't been a long-deliberated plan by Cai Sheng, and while his teammates wanted to play high balls, what they could read, their opponents could also read; the opposition had put a lot of effort into defending the flanks. Without good crosses, Long Bisheng's height advantage could not be utilized.

Cai Sheng quickly noticed the problem. Taking advantage of a dead ball, he called captain Liu Ziyan over to have a word. Liu Ziyan nodded, and upon running back onto the field, he immediately signaled for the ball.

Liu Bin passed the ball to him instantly. As Liu Ziyan dribbled forward, he encountered an opposing defender. He passed the ball back to Liu Bin and made a run forward. Seeing his captain shake off the defense, Liu Bin immediately played a direct through-ball to Liu Ziyan’s feet.

Receiving the ball, Liu Ziyan saw no one rushing to defend him—he was just past the halfway line, a distance that seemed safe.

No one expected that instead of continuing to dribble, Liu Ziyan would launch a long ball directly into the penalty area!

Long Bisheng jumped high in the box, fighting off two center-backs, Zhang Baofeng and Liu Cheng, to win the header, unleashing a powerful downward strike!

Goalkeeper Yang Jun made a brilliant save, tipping the ball over the end line with one hand!

"Liu Ziyan sent a long pass directly into the box, and Long Bisheng, who just came on, forced a header on goal! A beautiful save, Yang Jun has saved Yatai!" the commentator said, still shaken. "That two-meter-two height is definitely not just for show; this young player's impact is truly outstanding!"

"We seem to have forgotten that Cai Sheng himself was once one of the top high-target strikers in China, if not all of Asia..." the guest commentator sighed. "With his experience, it shouldn't be difficult to help a young player with similar height make an impact on the field, especially since this young man comes from Yunjia Tianyu, which has the best youth training system in the country..."

After this offensive sequence, his teammates finally confirmed Long Bisheng's ability. Changchun Yatai’s two center-backs were no slouches, both standing at one meter eighty-six—a height sufficient for defenders, as going any taller might compromise agility. But in the face of Long Bisheng's two-meter-two stature and his exceptional vertical leap, they seemed to have no defense.

On the ensuing corner kick, Long Bisheng won the header again, though unfortunately, it went slightly high, skimming the crossbar and flying out of bounds.

Liu Cheng knelt on the ground, looking at Long Bisheng—who was shaking his head as he ran out of the box—with a look of shock. Is this kid even human? He had used all his strength to mark and bump him, managing to destabilize him just enough to make him send the ball high—did he hear that right? The kid is only seventeen? His physique is clearly already better than many adult players!

"Watch out for this kid," his center-back partner Zhang Baofeng said in a low voice. "His impact is very strong... the entire China League One doesn't seem to have a center forward with such outstanding power. His body is excellent, and he has a lot of experience in positioning. We need to handle this kid carefully."

Changchun Yatai's center-back pairing was definitely top-tier in League One, and even in the Super League, they would be at least mid-table. Two defenders at one meter eighty-six, who were good in the air and had quick turn-around speed, were usually enough to handle any forward. But against a center forward who was ten centimeters taller than them and possessed even better jumping ability and physical presence, they truly had no good solution.

On the sidelines, Cheng Jingang's eyes narrowed into slits—did this Cai Sheng really strike gold at Yunjia Tianyu? He himself had picked up a treasure at Yunjia Tianyu at the beginning of the year: Du Zhenyu, Yatai's current midfield playmaker. The kid's style was simple, yet very difficult to deal with.

Cheng Jingang was an outstanding coach in League One, but for the moment, he couldn't find a way to contain such a forward. The reason was simple: before Long Bisheng came on, he didn't even know such a player existed, so he couldn't have prepared for him. His two center-backs were the best Yatai had for defending high balls, and if they couldn't stop Long Bisheng, nobody else could.

While Cheng Jingang was still thinking, Qingdao Haifeng had already found their rhythm in attack. With the two previous experiences, the subsequent attacks were much easier to manage; they simply launched long balls toward Long Bisheng's head. With his excellent heading ability, Long Bisheng could not only go for goal himself but also use his headers to flick the ball on, creating opportunities for teammates like Baozi. Qingdao Haifeng no longer needed complex offensive tactics to move the ball forward, which made Changchun Yatai's defense difficult. If they expanded their defensive zone to prevent the long balls, it would allow Qingdao Haifeng's wing play to push deeper and make their crosses more dangerous.

Under the weight of Qingdao Haifeng's technically crude long-ball tactics and Long Bisheng's unreasonable physical aggression, Changchun Yatai—the team with the most national-team-level players in League One—found themselves temporarily helpless against such simple and brutal tactics.

Cai Sheng watched from the sidelines, beaming with joy. He felt as if he were reliving his prime, the days when he had used exactly this kind of physical aggression to help the Chinese national team defeat one opponent after another.