The distance of this journey is not generally far, and it will take a full seven or eight hours.
Following this, the next round of the competition began. Seeing this, people's expectations had generally lowered, as Neymar's record seemed unlikely for most of these individuals to break.
As expected, after a few "cannon fodder" participants were eliminated, in the fourth group, there was finally someone worth anticipating: David Beckham, who was over 40 and nearing 50.
What his current skill level was, and how his physical condition was, remained a mystery. Even those present were unaware, which only increased their anticipation for his performance.
At this moment, it was time for the fourth group to send their representative. Besides Beckham, there was only one other participant, Seth.
However, Beckham did not participate this time. He chose to save himself for the final round, to prove himself then, thus maintaining everyone's anticipation until the very end.
Instead, Thierry Henry, a club teammate of Cao Baiming at Arsenal, took his place.
His skill needed no explanation. During Arsenal's most glorious period, their brilliant achievements were largely attributed to him. It was even a common discussion among fans that his contribution might have been greater than that of "The Professor" Wenger.
Upfront, he was a crucial finisher, and on the wing, he was a player who could deliver a killer pass with a single touch. Regardless, Henry's name was undeniably one of the greatest players to have ever graced the forward line.
Furthermore, he was the second player, after Kaká, to successfully "summon the gods" of the past and return to his former glory in the modern era.
In this era, many had personally witnessed his prowess, his peak performance.
Even though Henry's scoring ability upfront ranked among the lower echelons of all strikers, it did not diminish his status as one of the best forwards, indirectly proving how refined and perfect his footwork was.
People held high expectations for Henry as well. As a member of the "group of death," he had successfully vindicated himself!
In the end, he successfully hit the target twice out of three opportunities. The final attempt was only a hair's breadth away, perhaps lacking just a bit of luck.
The usually low-key Henry did not back down at this moment. He took his shots steadily from the 50-meter mark. The reason behind this was that Ronaldinho's earlier showboating had led to the current situation, and it was necessary to stabilize things first.
Of course, Henry did not need a simple exhibition match to prove himself. There was no need to elaborate on such matters; anyone with a modicum of sense knew what kind of player he was.
Subsequently, in the fifth group, Luka Modrić stepped up to the ball. As a world-class midfield magician, Modrić was praised as the best long-pass player, and this kind of event was very suited to him.
He had practiced similar feats countless times during training sessions, and this was merely a repetition with no significant changes.
Because of Ronaldinho's earlier mistake, where he overestimated himself, the score in the fifth group was still only in second place. Modrić naturally bore the responsibility.
Under everyone's gaze, he walked directly to the 60-meter mark, intending to attempt his first shot from there.
He had a clear assessment of his own ability and skill. His first attempt from this position successfully hit the target. Although the ball didn't go in, it struck the goal frame heavily.
Through this slight miss, Modrić instantly understood what he needed to adjust. After making minor adjustments, his second and third shots consecutively hit the target, and the football successfully entered the goal frame each time.
With this burst of accuracy, he almost matched Neymar's record, astonishing everyone.
The event quickly moved to the final round. In this last round, there was one person whom everyone was anticipating, the most anticipated person of the evening: Cao Baiming!
This evening was originally Cao Baiming's home turf. If there was one main protagonist tonight, it was undoubtedly him, as this was his birthday party, and everyone else present were guests.
Furthermore, purely from a skill perspective, Cao Baiming's technique surpassed everyone else's. Even "The Alien" Ronaldo, Messi, Henry, and others would not dare to claim their technique was definitively better than Cao Baiming's current level.
After all, the results of past matches spoke for themselves. Even a blind person could see the unbelievable feats he accomplished on the field, things that were hard to believe a normal human could achieve in a real match, hard to believe they were real occurrences.
Cao Baiming's eyes gleamed with intensity as he took a step forward. The crowd erupted in cheers. Regardless of the outcome, this was the moment their anticipation was finally realized.
Up to this point, no one had managed to surpass Neymar's record; only Modrić had come close.
Even Ronaldinho and Henry had consecutively failed to challenge it, not even getting close to the record. This showed how difficult it was to surpass, and even the star-studded Brazilian squad had failed.
Now, among the remaining participants, it seemed only Cao Baiming had a chance. He was renowned for his long shots, and the feats he had accomplished on the field suggested that this task might be relatively easy for him.
At this moment, some of the surrounding crowd, particularly Cao Baiming's teammates, already had an inkling of the outcome.
As teammates who had trained on the same pitch with Cao Baiming in the past, such as Henry, Messi, and Ødegaard, who was close to Cao Baiming, they had personally witnessed Cao Baiming successfully kick a football from one corner of the field to the goal frame in the opposite corner during training sessions.
That distance was not just 50 meters, but likely 100 meters, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it exceeded one hundred meters!
After all, the diagonal distance between two corners of a football field was longer than its long edge.
How would Cao Baiming choose?
Would he retreat directly to a distance of 70 meters or more, to become the first person to score from such a range?