Hero of the Penalty Area

Chapter One Hundred Forty Five

Goodison Park Stadium, home of Everton, has a long history. It was built in 1892 and has a history of 115 years. It was the first stadium with double-layer stands on all sides, and the first stadium in the league to use an underground heating system. In the past, it was considered a fairly "modern" stadium. But now with a large group of "five-star" stadiums, it looks a little bleak.

The stadium can only accommodate forty thousand people, and it cannot be expanded due to architectural constraints. If you want to get more attendance, you have to use a bigger stadium. The Liverpool city government once persuaded Everton and Liverpool to use Stanley Park together, just like the Milan duo. But unsurprisingly, this proposal was rejected by two mortal enemies.

So Everton has been at Goodison Park Stadium.

This stadium has long been integrated into every corner of Everton's history, as well as in the minds of every "Taffy" fan. In their hearts, they do not envy Manchester United, which owns the "Dream Theatre" at Old Trafford, nor do they envy Arsenal, which has received a huge investment in building a new stadium, nor do they envy the same city that is building Stanley Park. Rivals, not only that, they will also laugh at the lack of funds that the stadium, which can accommodate 70,000 people, is now falling into.

On this day, on the evening of December 5th, Everton played at home against Zenit St. Petersburg. This was a UEFA Cup group match.

The fans were full of the not-so-large Goodison Park Stadium, and the songs of the English fans resounded through the sky, piercing the hazy night sky.

Compared to professional England fans, Zenit fans who followed the team to Liverpool are much weaker. In the uniform and rhythmic singing and applause of the English fans, they didn't know how to open their mouths to make their own voices.

In this game, from the team to the fans, Everton will eat Zenit St. Petersburg.

Fans don't want to make their own voice, let alone the team...

Chen Yingxiong and his teammates are in the simple visiting team locker room, listening to the final instructions of the head coach.

"What did we train for a week? This is the moment! For us, this is a very critical match. If we lose, I can't guarantee that we will be eliminated, but the odds of elimination are very high. This is true. So you have to win. If you still want to enter the knockout stage..."

He cast a special look at Chen Yingxiong.

Chen Yingxiong was listening to the head coach's speech with his head held high and his fists clenched.

"The opponents are very strong, and they are playing at home. But they are not without flaws. They need to fight in two lines, and the domestic league has a very dense schedule, so they can't be distracted to deal with two fronts at the same time. Not to mention they have another one. A UEFA Cup group stage, for them, this is not a decisive battle that determines the ultimate fate of life and death. But for us, this is it!"

"So as long as we play 200% of our strength and face a half-hearted opponent, we are capable of winning this game!"

Moyes confessed to his men very seriously the threatening Zenit players.

"Arshavin is the team's number one star and the Russian football player. He is excellent, fast, good at dribbling, and threats from long shots and crosses. So the defense against him must be all-round. Let him take the football easily, don't give him space-his range of activities is relatively large, no matter where he appears, he must set up a line of defense as soon as possible!"

“Timoshchuk and Domingo seem to be Zenit’s central axis. They defend and attack one by one. We have to cut the connection between the two so that Zenit can only pass forward in the backcourt. We can't pass through the ground to match up, so our defensive pressure will be much less!"

"As for Scott, he is excellent in height and has outstanding air defense capabilities, but he turns slowly. This is his Achilles heel. We have to hit the ground more and walk less in the air. The main offensive strategy is to hit behind them and try more direct passes. It doesn’t matter even if it’s cut off, keep passing straight! As long as there is one success, we will win! And they will definitely want to win the game away. There will be more time in the game, and they will be behind. There is more space for us to use, a lot of straight plugs!"

Unlike at the press conference, this time he mentioned Chen Yingxiong.

"Their center is very tall and has a good header, so you two should pay attention to Lescott and Yabo."

The captain of the team, Yabo, nodded, and Lescott smiled: "Don't worry, boss! That kid don't want to score goals on my head!"

Lescott, who has been selected as an England adult national pair, is now confident. His future is unanimously optimistic by many experts. They believe that he will very likely become the backbone of the England national team's defense in the future, taking over Rio Ferdinand. And John Terry's class.

Against a forward from a Russian team? He didn't feel any pressure, although the data showed that the center was 1.92 meters tall and weighed 93 kilograms.

But this does not explain any problems. Lescott knows that it is not height and weight that determine the outcome, but more and more complicated things. In his opinion, that stupid big man doesn't own it...

When the live broadcast sounded "Please welcome our great players--", the cheers suddenly increased, and both players in the player hall knew that it was time to play.

Of course, the home team announcer only introduces players from the home team.

So cheers come and go, but they are all dedicated to the home team players.

The players of Zenit St. Petersburg walked next to the Everton players and played the role of green leaves and supporting roles.

Chen Yingxiong raised his head and looked at the crowded stadium stands, looking around, it was blue.

He is not completely new to Everton. When the two overseas Chinese players Li Tie and Li Weifeng played for Everton, the advertisement on the chest of this team was still the Chinese word "Kejian". At that time, because there were two Chinese players playing in Everton, the Chinese media paid no attention to this team.

Now, with the departure of Li Tie and Li Weifeng, Everton has gradually disappeared from the sight of the Chinese media, and has gradually become an ordinary Premier League team, no longer enjoying any special treatment.

Chen Yingxiong has very limited expectations for this team. He only knows that they have played for two Chinese internationals. The head coach seems to be quite famous...

But he doesn't think it's important, knowing his opponent... That's the job of the head coach, he just scores. No matter who the opponent is in front of him, the unknown or the traditional giants, he only needs to score goals.

This is the center, what a simple job...

Starting in the player's tunnel, Lescott focused his attention on the No. 99 player.

This player is really conspicuous, he can't even pay attention to it. The first is his arrogant number-99, which is the largest number that a player can have...The second is his body, which looks really burly.

Lescott has an illusion-this man doesn't seem to want to be only ninety-three kilograms, right?

Of course he won't know. When Chen Yingxiong signed up, the club directly reported his information from last season to UEFA. UEFA did not verify it, and adopted it directly. Mistakes in personal information of this kind abound and are very common. Even in important events such as the World Cup, the official information is often full of errors and omissions, leaving reporters and fans at a loss, let alone the UEFA Cup. There are many unheard of teams in the participating teams, and of course their players have no relationship with whether the information is true or not.

Now the weight of Chen Yingxiong is approaching one hundred kilograms, he looks very strong, his muscles are tight, and his clothes are stretched out of muscles.

After seeing this muscle, Lescott put away a little contempt, thinking that this kid is still a bit expected...

But when he walked out of the player's tunnel, he saw Chen Yingxiong looking around, with a "curious baby" expression, Lescott curled his lips in his heart.

After all, he is a player from Russia who has never seen the world!

I heard that he was only 19 years old and was still playing in the youth league last season? Such a person is so tender...just as the boss said, he lacks experience, and this will be his fatal weakness.

Lescott saw Chen Yingxiong who looked around, and felt that it made no sense for him to value him. Such an inexperienced rookie was best dealt with. The UEFA Cup is different from your Russian Premier League! Kid!

Chen Yingxiong followed his teammates out.

The Chinese reporters in the press stand were a little excited.

"Following Li Tie, Li Weifeng and Sun Jihai, another Chinese player finally stepped onto the turf of Goodison Park!"

"Hero! Moyes doesn't know you, you have to let him remember you after this game!" Some reporters shouted excitedly below.

Unfortunately, in a noisy environment, it is impossible for Chen Yingxiong to hear what they are yelling. In fact, Chen Yingxiong didn't even see them. He has taken his gaze back from the surrounding stands, no longer looking around like a curious baby.

When the players from both sides shook hands, he focused on Lescott and Yabo.

Both are very tall, both are blacks, and the blacks are not bad in physical fitness. In fact, the same is true. Lescott's body looks very strong, and Yabo is a little thinner, but it is also considered strong. The two were about the same height as himself. Chen Yingxiong knew that he would be stubbornly blocked in the air, but he was not afraid.

Before the game, Ed Wocart showed everyone Everton's game video and told them who their opponents were. Yabo and Lescott were Chen Yingxiong's opponents.

He has to remember these two faces, because in the game, they will see each other often. He also hopes that these two central defenders will remember their faces so that they won't be mistaken.

When Lescott's gaze flicked across his face and then swayed to Arshavin who was beside him, Chen Yingxiong was a little unhappy.

Hey, your opponent is me, where do you look!