Henry's eyes were filled with determination and courage; victory or defeat rested on this moment!
This feint successfully fooled many of the players around him. Luke Shaw was almost sent sprawling to the ground. However, Cao Baiming was not deceived by his feint. At almost the same moment, he chose to follow Henry's body and step to his left!
Henry was preparing to shoot directly!
With the situation as it was, there was no reason to hesitate any longer. The goal was only ten meters away. To score, one had to dare to take a shot!
Cao Baiming naturally extended one foot, simultaneously using his body to block Henry's shot, providing sufficient interference.
Immediately, Cao Baiming wanted to directly tackle the ball from Henry's feet. He aimed to time it precisely within the few tens of milliseconds that it took to kick the ball. Before Henry prepared to shoot with his foot, there was definitely a preparation time of tens of milliseconds. For him, this was more than enough.
However, what happened next surprised Cao Baiming himself.
He completely missed the ball. His foot didn't connect with it, and he was still a step too slow. Although it was only a difference of tens of milliseconds, in that instant, Henry had already kicked the ball. Furthermore, there was no physical contact, only a mere obstruction.
"We're finished!!"
At that moment, the sky seemed to turn gray.
He had actually forgotten to switch the attribute points he had just converted to speed back. If he remembered correctly, those 60 points were converted from his defensive attributes. No wonder he was struggling so much to defend Henry.
The outcome was predictable. With Cao Baiming missing this block, Luke Shaw beside him would surely be unable to salvage the situation, and the pressure would fall solely on De Gea.
He managed to cover a certain angle, at least reducing the difficulty for De Gea to save the shot. However, the shooter was Henry. Henry's shooting speed was definitely not comparable to ordinary players.
This shot was not only incredibly fast and powerful but also had an extremely cunning angle. De Gea gave his all but still couldn't prevent the ball from smoothly entering the net.
At this very moment, Henry equalized the score.
With this goal, Arsenal plunged into celebration once more. They could now see hope for victory. Coming back from two goals down was no small feat.
Everyone in the team rediscovered their hope. This hope was more potent than any stimulant or performance-enhancing drug for them. It could infuse players with a surge of physical strength, an inner excitement, and passion!
At this moment, a mask of control appeared on Cao Baiming's face. This pain stemmed from nowhere else.
He hadn't expected that the first time he used his talent, he would actually be tripped up by it. If not for the attribute point conversion feature, this goal would certainly not have been conceded. Even without improving any defensive capabilities, with his current abilities and the help of his two teammates beside him, defending Henry alone would have been manageable.
However, on second thought, this was only the first time, and it was merely a simulation, not a real match.
Fortunately, he discovered this problem relatively early and in a timely manner. If he could rectify it in time and practice more to get used to it, this talent would still be an extremely powerful asset.
Ultimately, he had been too nervous. In just a few seconds, there was no time to judge which attributes to convert and where. This led to everything falling into disarray.
Thinking of this, Cao Baiming felt helpless. Even he needed time to practice. It was impossible to master and wield a skill perfectly from the very beginning.
Perhaps he should start from now on and not casually convert 100 attribute points at once. If he converted too many, even if he didn't have time to switch them back, it wouldn't lead to drastic consequences, and he would still have sufficient support.
As he became more proficient, he could gradually increase the points. This way, everything would improve, and it would continue to get better. This was the most important thing.
The first half of the match concluded with the celebration of this goal. In the remaining few minutes, neither team revealed their full hands, opting for a peaceful end to the half.
In the blink of an eye, the match entered the second half. Cao Baiming had already formulated his plan: to use this second half to master his new talent.
Although attribute point conversion and similar mechanics had no cooldowns, the human brain's reaction speed had a natural cooldown, which was unavoidable. The only solution was to practice continuously until it reached a point where he could use it effectively without even thinking.
This was akin to muscle memory. People who had been repeatedly performing a certain task for a very long time would transform that skill into muscle memory. This would free up the brain, allowing them to perform the task as well as before, or even handle simple unexpected situations, without conscious thought.
After this half of the match, Cao Baiming realized something important: this Arsenal team was incredibly strong even without his presence.
The abilities of Messi and Henry were self-evident, and the strength of the other players was not to be underestimated.
Especially when the team gained a boost in morale, such as scoring a goal, their power in the subsequent period would be terrifying, extremely terrifying!
This situation could be considered good news, but at the same time, it was also bad news.
What was the meaning of continuously winning matches within such a team? It was questionable. Compared to this, Cao Baiming now increasingly wished to be in a team like the current Manchester United, and to lead this team, which was underestimated by the outside world, to defeat a true demon.
Perhaps such a victory would hold greater significance and provide more a sense of accomplishment.