Chapter Eighty-Nine: The Importance of Thinking, Part One

After twenty minutes of play, Long Bisheng immediately realized that his opponent had not been exaggerating before the match.

During those twenty minutes, Yunjia Tianyu delivered plenty of crosses from both wings, especially from the left side where Zhouwei was stationed, but under the defense of the center back named Cai Guoqing, Long Bisheng managed to contest very few headers. Some he failed to meet at the point of delivery; others, even when he did get there, were rendered ineffective by the opponent’s interference.

Although Cai Guoqing stood half a head shorter than Long Bisheng, his leaping ability and sense of where the ball would fall were no worse at all. Even when he did not win the ball outright, he could still use physical pressure to disturb Long Bisheng so that neither his headed shots nor his flick-ons could be made with any real precision. The attacking effect was naturally greatly diminished.

Long Bisheng compared Cai Guoqing and Li Jie in his mind, and concluded that in defending aerial balls, Cai Guoqing seemed even a little better than Li Jie. His jumping ability was slightly superior, because in the school’s internal matches, even Li Jie had never been able to prevent Long Bisheng from producing a single threatening header or layoff in the face of so many crosses.

But that did not mean Li Jie was inferior to Cai Guoqing. In fact, Li Jie was stronger overall. Cai Guoqing might be a little better than Li Jie in physical duels, jumping, and judging the drop of the ball, but in other areas he lagged behind by quite a bit, especially in footwork and turning. Long Bisheng had once seen Cai Guoqing control a back pass from a teammate and stop the ball five meters away; if Long Bisheng had been a little quicker, there might have been a chance to steal a goal from a high press.

However, with Long Bisheng unable to use his feet to advantage, Cai Guoqing’s weaknesses could no longer really be called weaknesses. Long Bisheng could only battle him physically, fight for the drop point, and contest the headers. And all of those were Cai Guoqing’s strengths.

Even though Long Bisheng was outstanding in those areas as well, it was still very difficult to overcome the opponent.

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"Is that defender Cai Sheng’s nephew?" On the sidelines, Ding Yu turned and asked Coach Zhao.

"I don’t know." Coach Zhao shook his head, a little awkwardly. In matches like this one, there was no such thing as gathering detailed information on opponents. At most, one might know a little about teams one had faced before. To put it plainly, aside from reporters who had rich experience covering such matches, no coach would know every player’s background particularly well, except for a few who had met before, left a deep impression, or were old rivals.

Hubei Ejinlong had not played against Yunjia Tianyu last year, and the two football schools could hardly be called old adversaries. Although the coach of this team, Pan Kai, was in a real sense still one of Yunjia Tianyu’s own people, because part of his salary was paid by the Yunjia Tianyu club, he would not reveal his team’s characteristics to Ding Yu. That concerned professional ethics. Yunjia Tianyu had always claimed to be the most professional club in all of China, and neither its management nor its team would ever ask a loaned-out coach to do something that violated professional morality.

"Damn it, we should have asked Dai Guangming and the others before the match. They seem to know this guy... But if he really is Cai Sheng’s nephew, then that’s interesting. Cai Sheng was one of the best strikers in China in the early nineteen-nineties, yet his nephew is playing center back." Ding Yu shook his head, then smiled. "This little guy is better than Li Jie at defending headers. Long Bisheng has run into a good opponent this time."

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"A center back’s quality isn’t judged only by heading and jumping ability. Otherwise you wouldn’t have suggested Long Bisheng play as a striker back then," Coach Zhao said, shaking his head. "This guy’s weaknesses are obvious. If Long Bisheng can just open up his game, beating him would be easy."

"I understand what you mean." Ding Yu nodded. "If we suddenly put the ball at Long Bisheng’s feet, then with his current ability to turn and break away, escaping this opponent wouldn’t be too difficult. But I’d like to see whether he can beat this opponent in the air. After all, in domestic football it isn’t easy to find a defender of the same age with aerial defensive ability better than Li Jie’s."

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After running about the pitch for so long, Long Bisheng was not simply throwing himself into collisions with the opponent. He was also thinking about how to defeat him. His mind was not especially nimble, but that did not mean he did not think. In truth, a person of average intelligence who can focus wholeheartedly on a problem will often consider no fewer possibilities than a clever person who is distracted.

In fact, ten minutes into the match, Long Bisheng had already noticed the opponent’s weakness: crude technique and slow turning. Long Bisheng was not particularly quick either, but his legs were much longer than those of the average person, and in terms of rapid turning and short-distance bursts, he was no worse than any defender. He simply was not good at longer sprints.

But to be honest, Long Bisheng’s mind was indeed not very flexible, or perhaps better described as single-minded. After noticing the weakness, he never thought to exploit it, because Ding Yu had told him to use his footwork as little as possible in the match. So all he could think about was how to beat this opponent in the contest for headers.

Hubei’s strength was not weak. Thirty minutes had already passed, and the match remained deadlocked. This was not only because Cai Guoqing had managed to keep Long Bisheng under control in the air—indeed, Yunjia Tianyu was not relentlessly targeting Long Bisheng alone in this game—but also because Hubei, in the other areas of the contest, though perhaps slightly at a disadvantage, was by no means badly off.

"There’s a lot of talent in this Hubei team. The players who’ve come on are all pretty good, especially those four in midfield. To be able to tangle with our midfield for so long without being outmatched is impressive," Ding Yu said with some surprise from the sidelines.

"They really are excellent..." After observing for a while, Coach Zhao could not help nodding as well. "Their midfield, like ours, is arranged in a diamond with four men... Aside from that holding midfielder, all four of them are quick, they combine well, and their technique is quite good too. The characteristic pace, variety, and finesse of Hubei football is very obvious. Individually, they may each be a little behind Dai Guangming and the others, but as a unit, they are not much weaker than our midfield. After all, the more players there are, the less obvious the gap in individual ability becomes."

"And that striker too," Ding Yu said. "He looks rather ordinary. He hasn’t had many shots so far, and he isn’t especially strong in physical duels, but look at his movement. Every time he drifts into space. If Li Jie’s turning weren’t so quick, he might already have created several clear chances... A striker with that kind of movement must be very good at taking his chances!"

"It seems Hubei football really has produced quite a few talents lately... Then again, it’s hardly surprising. We’ve supported their youth development the longest, and some of the more advanced training equipment was sold to them long ago. It was about time they started producing players." Coach Zhao shook his head. "If they hadn’t run into us, they’d surely have gotten much better results."

"You sound very confident about our victory," Ding Yu laughed loudly, but Coach Zhao did not laugh.

"That’s right. I am confident, because overall we still hold the advantage, and the superiority of Dai Guangming and the others in midfield is beginning to show. As long as the forwards can seize their chances, victory should not come too hard."

Coach Zhao had barely finished speaking when, on the field, Hu Gandang cleanly dispossessed the opposing attacking midfielder with a beautiful shoulder-to-shoulder tackle, then sent a perfectly weighted through ball to Dai Guangming ahead. Dai Guangming quickly took the ball, turned, and facing the opposing defensive midfielder who rushed toward him, poked the ball forward with the toe of his boot and threaded it between the man’s legs, then accelerated past him!

The opponent’s holding midfielder had read the play well, but his turning was a step slower than Dai Guangming’s, and his pace was not as good. After Dai Guangming had sprinted a few steps, he was already pulling farther and farther away.

Just as the opposing holding midfielder was about to commit a foul, Dai Guangming delivered a lovely diagonal pass that sent the ball to Zhouwei’s feet. Zhouwei accelerated past the opposing right back and drove toward the byline.

As Zhouwei broke toward the byline, Long Bisheng and Cai Guoqing once again became entangled in the penalty area. Though not fast, Cai Guoqing still stayed tight to Long Bisheng’s side.

Long Bisheng took a couple of steps back and forth, carefully placing himself just behind the offside line. As Zhouwei carried the ball to the byline, Long Bisheng suddenly made a large sideways stride and moved one step toward the near post.

Cai Guoqing immediately followed. By then Zhouwei had already whipped the ball in. At that very moment, Long Bisheng suddenly took another large step and shifted sharply in the opposite direction!

When he saw Zhouwei deliver the cross, Cai Guoqing had intended to rush in front of Long Bisheng and head the ball clear first, so he had taken an extra step in pursuit. When Long Bisheng moved away, it was as if he had temporarily put two strides between them!

And at that moment, Cai Guoqing also realized that the cross was dropping toward the center of the box.

But it was already too late. Cai Guoqing’s lack of turning speed was exposed at last. Long Bisheng leaped high and made the first header of the match that nobody contested.