The halftime break finally arrived. For the players at this moment, they had endured the score and could at least briefly escape the situation on the field.
Back in the locker room, no one wanted to speak. However, as the team captain, he still stepped forward, choosing to comfort his teammates in this situation. Under the dual encouragement of the captain and the head coach, the players quickly adjusted their mindset.
But no matter how they adjusted, it was merely to slow down the pain of death. Achieving an equal score was an impossible task, and everyone knew this.
However, there seemed to be one thing that could bring a sliver of salvation to everyone, and that was scoring a goal!
Although the most eye-catching aspect was the eleven in the eleven-zero score, with Nottingham Forest scoring 11 goals in half a game, Cao Baming personally scored 8 of them.
But at the same time, another piece of news was also very important: the team hadn't scored a single goal. They were completely shut out by the opponent, which was an equally shameful matter.
After all, no matter how big the gap in strength between the teams, even with luck, it was possible to snatch one or two goals. Instead, they conceded 11 goals and failed to score any themselves.
This point seemed relatively easier to achieve. As long as they worked hard in the second half, with the entire team cooperating to the fullest, even if they didn't score many goals, it should still be very hopeful to score at least one!
What everyone needed now was probably just this one moment. With a goal, perhaps the situation would be successfully turned around, and once everyone's mindset improved, the scene wouldn't be so unsightly.
That's right, the pursuit now was no longer about winning this friendly match, or even saving face. The team's requirements had dropped to a very low level: as long as they didn't lose too badly.
Even just one Cambridge goal would still be a Cambridge goal, and it could at least provide some psychological comfort!
As expected, under this kind of effort, all the players' morale was boosted. Meanwhile, in the Nottingham Forest locker room, everyone was still joking with Cao Baming.
Everyone was shocked by his performance in the first half. This naturally included the club's head coach, Kumo. He was actually ecstatic inside, but he was trying his best to restrain himself, not showing an overly excited expression that would cause him to lose his authority as a coach.
Thinking about how far the team could go in the new season under Cao Baming's leadership painted a very exciting blueprint. It would be a new world, a world completely different from before.
Soon, the halftime break ended, and everyone walked back onto the field. This friendly match had no commentators, nor was there any match commentary, but the entire game was being recorded by dedicated cameras.
In the second half, the opposing players were filled with determination, striving to score a goal in this match to salvage their pride and prevent the leaked footage from becoming a lifelong nightmare for the team.
Cao Baming was already well aware of the opposing team's intentions, and it wasn't difficult to guess. Being beaten so badly, it was actually impossible to equalize the score. Now, all they could do was hold onto that sliver of hope to score a goal.
In this way, things seemed to become even more interesting!
Playing a friendly match against such a team lacked a bit of challenge. However, why not give himself a challenge? The goal of this match was to shut out the opponent!
The more the opponent wanted to score, the more he wouldn't let them. He wanted to see if these guys could withstand this kind of pressure. If they couldn't, then they deserved to miss out on promotion to the Premier League.
After all, if their mentality wasn't up to par in the Premier League, how could they survive in such a competition with so many strong teams? Even Cao Baming's Nottingham Forest team was at the bottom of the Premier League standings last season.
They ranked last in the league in goals scored. If it weren't for their relatively decent defensive record, they likely wouldn't have survived relegation this season.
As they walked onto the field, their gazes inadvertently swept across Cao Baming's face. Seeing those fierce eyes, everyone's confidence was once again severely shaken.
The halftime break offered beautiful fantasies, but reality was about to set in. Was this devil truly their opponent? How should they face him?
None of them had the confidence to successfully break through him when facing Cao Baming. After all, even the top stars in the Premier League couldn't do it, so how could they?
The second half began, and both teams continued with their strategies from the first half.
At this moment, Cao Baming remained honestly in the backfield. In the early stages of the first half, he had honestly played as a defender before gradually transitioning to covering the entire field.
Now that the objective had changed to preventing the opponent from scoring, his presence in the backfield was naturally indispensable. Cao Baming thought that he would have to spend more time in the backfield in the second half.
Even if he wanted to participate in the offense, he had to constantly pay attention to the opponent's opportunities and absolutely could not let them snatch a moment behind him.
Time ticked by, and it was already the tenth minute of the second half, yet neither team had scored.
It was one thing for the opponent not to score, but more importantly, Nottingham Forest hadn't scored either. It wasn't just Cao Baming who had gone quiet; the other attacking players, like sharp arrows, had failed to create any truly threatening shots.
The score remained at 11-0. While the score was already outrageous, the fact that no goals had been scored for a full ten minutes made people wonder if the opponent was actually hiding their strength.
Only Cao Baming understood the reason for all of this. It was simple: he hadn't fully participated in the offense yet.
In the initial stages, the opponent had repeatedly tried to attack the team's defensive line using different methods, but each of these attacks ultimately failed.