The match quickly began, and the referee's whistle signaled the start of the game!
The commentators shouted with passion, as after this match, Arsenal would secure the Premier League title with ten games to spare, an unprecedented feat.
As for the Southampton players, Arsenal's opponents, though they wished to prevent this from happening, they were powerless.
Before the match, Cao Baiming had only one thing to say to his teammates: "Go out there and play freely today."
After a few minutes of play, the audience, as expected, realized something was amiss. The entire Arsenal team seemed significantly different from usual.
Soon, everyone identified the biggest difference: he was constantly drawing attention, forcefully pulling everyone's gaze towards himself.
This person was Cao Baiming.
Even the samba superstar Ronaldinho, sitting on the sidelines, was astonished by Cao Baiming's exquisite skills and daring moves.
"Thankfully, thankfully this guy isn't from my era. Thankfully, I don't have to face him on the field, otherwise, who would have been the strongest representative of samba football back then is still up for debate."
"To say this guy's football can't even be called samba football... The sequence of feints, dribbles, and keep-ups were as fluid and natural as Lingbo Weibu, flowing water over high mountains, or a gust of wind through the mountains, leaving one in awe."
Most importantly, when did he suddenly become like this? No one could provide an answer. In fact, he was perfectly normal in the previous match, but now he was completely transformed.
With the subtle enhancement of his temporal sense ability, Cao Baiming could now predict the next moves of players in front of him, and even those not so close. Coupled with his completely changed ball control, he could now execute any move he could conceive of. He could even adapt based on the different directions of movement of everyone around him and their thoughts at any given moment.
All of this was due to the newly awakened "Illusory Feather Ice Heart" talent.
The editors were surely ecstatic. For this match, simply focusing the camera on Cao Baiming and capturing any frame could be used in editing videos, and would be more than enough to create over a hundred clips.
[Name of coach/manager, implied but not stated explicitly] also noticed something. He knew Cao Baiming was different from before, but he didn't know why.
In the 14th minute of the match, before Cao Baiming could score, his teammate Henry opened the opponent's goal with a stunning volley.
This goal once again shifted the attention of the entire stadium's fans from Cao Baiming to Henry.
After all, no matter how flashy the play, it couldn't compare to the glory of scoring a goal, that radiant brilliance.
Swiftly following suit, Cao Baiming roused himself. If this continued, he might truly be overshadowed. After all, pragmatic football had its benefits, perhaps the only one: winning.
What was limiting his performance was never his technical ability, Cao Baiming suddenly realized!
His current technical skill and ball control had reached a level far beyond sufficient. He could execute any move he could imagine.
However, his mind was still constrained by conventional fancy football routines and commonly used dribbling techniques on the field, such as the "fried meatball" feint, the nutmeg, the rainbow flick, and others invented by different players. No wonder they felt so awkward to use!
Cao Baiming suddenly understood: what he lacked was a signature, self-created move!
Although it was too early to develop a signature move, he knew he couldn't let traditional thinking shackle his imagination any longer.
At that moment, the ball came his way, and Vieira, the passer, gave him a glance.
Cao Baiming looked ahead. Two players were making cross runs, and several lines of different directions quickly appeared in the area ahead.
The most prominent were the two lines directly in front: one was a shooting line, aimed directly at the goal about thirty-five meters away, and the other was a passing line, heading towards Henry on the left side of the penalty box, possibly setting up a one-two pass, or perhaps Henry might shoot directly!
These two lines, with their numerical indicators, were around eighty, the highest among all options. But within a fraction of a second of hesitation, the numbers dropped sharply!
From the high eighties, they plummeted to below seventy and continued to decrease every millisecond. The two lines intersected and slowly shifted direction with the movement of the players on the field.
At this moment, a lightbulb suddenly lit up in Cao Baiming's mind. These two lines were being brought together by the players in front of him, intersecting and leading in different directions... Intersection? Exactly!!
Opportunities often arose from such intersections, just like the alternating runs and passes when players attack, the cross-over movements, and even the intersection of a player's gaze and their shooting direction, or the intersection of the supporting player and the shooting line.
Could one person accomplish this? The answer was yes!
As long as a person possessed sufficiently strong technical ability, there were no true limitations, and Cao Baiming possessed that ability.
He intended to use a cross-over run to deceive opponents and create an effective dribble. This would be far more practical than the usual "fried meatball" or "bike" feints, or the rainbow flick, and more importantly, more beautiful!
How could one person perform a cross-over run? Cao Baiming already had the answer in his mind.
The numbers were still fluctuating around seventy, and the ball was firmly under Cao Baiming's control.
The Southampton defenders would naturally not ignore Cao Baiming. Even if they couldn't stop him, they had to try their best. In an instant, three players surged forward, with more in preparation to block Cao Baiming's direct shot!
The next second, Cao Baiming faced the two defenders in front of him, his eyes flashing.
The two defenders were filled with anxiety. They understood a principle: when defending against Cao Baiming, one must never rush to tackle, because he was always one step ahead.
"To think you can successfully get the ball from Cao Baiming's feet is a delusion."
This statement came from the current world's best center-back, Virgil van Dijk.
They held their arms back, intently watching Cao Baiming's feet, wondering what kind of dribbling move he would use next to get past them!
At the very least, they didn't want to be embarrassed by being dribbled past...!