Shortly after Lu Wenbin completed his hat trick, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half.
During the half-time break, Ralph felt that the score of 3-0 was already very safe and Jena had no chance of turning the tables, so he prepared to replace Lu Wenbin in the second half.
After all, Lu Wenbin's physical attributes are only 12/12, and the physical fitness he shows in ordinary games cannot reach the state of starting continuously and running all over the field for 90 minutes in every game.
This is also the reason why Lu Wenbin rarely retreated to the midfield to receive the ball and make long-distance runs after joining Hoffenheim's first team. He almost always just ran without the ball near the penalty area waiting for the final shot.
On the one hand, Hoffenheim has strong midfield organizers such as Salihovic and Eduardo, and more than one, so there is no need for Lu Wenbin to retreat to the midfield to get the ball.
On the other hand, in the German 2nd Division and German Cup games where physical confrontation is more intense and running is required more, Lu Wenbin's physical fitness can no longer support him to play like he does in the domestic high school league.
Ralph cannot see Lu Wenbin's physical attributes, but the coaching staff has a professional physical trainer who can observe Lu Wenbin's approximate physical limits.
It’s not that Lu Wenbin couldn’t play the full 90 minutes in this game, but when the team was already leading 3-0 and victory was almost secured, Ralph wanted to replace Lu Wenbin to ensure a higher winning rate in the subsequent league games.
However, when Ralph said to Lu Wenbin, "Lu, you come down and rest in the second half," Lu Wenbin immediately shook his head and raised an objection:
"Coach, I hope to play the full 90 minutes. Everyone knows the famous Istanbul Miracle Night, when AC Milan led 3-0 in the first half, but Liverpool scored three goals in the second half and lost the Champions League. Therefore, I hope to continue to stay on the court, try to score one or two more goals, and stay on the court to maintain deterrence against Jena and not give them any hope of a comeback."
This was the first time that Lu Wenbin clearly expressed his objection to the head coach.
It is also because today, Lu Wenbin has the strength and status to make suggestions, so it doesn't matter if he occasionally raises legitimate objections.
Of course, in reality, what Lu Wenbin said about that night in Istanbul was just a superficial justification, an excuse. In his heart, he did not believe that the Jena players who had just left the field in a dejected mood could make up for the 3-goal deficit in the second half.
The real reason why he raised objections to the head coach was for system experience.
Lu Wenbin's goal was to get Ralph to keep him on the field so that he could have another chance to score.
The game experience of the German Cup is twice that of the German 2nd League. In this game, Lu Wenbin has already performed a hat trick, but he will not be satisfied. He will continue to strive for goals and gain more experience.
After all, one goal means 2,000 experience points!
If I can earn enough experience from this game, I will be closer to reaching level 12.
In addition, there are still several rounds of league games before the finals. Perhaps, before the German Cup final, Lu Wenbin can be promoted to the next level and get another 10 skill points reward.
That way, we can further improve our strength and increase our chances of defeating Bayern Munich or Wolfsburg in the final.
However, the real reason for the system naturally could not be revealed, so Lu Wenbin found the example of Istanbul Night to convince the head coach.
After listening to Lu Wenbin's reasons, although Ralph did not quite believe that Jena could turn the tables after falling behind 0-3, the example Lu Wenbin mentioned was indeed worthy of caution, and they should not be careless and underestimate the enemy just because they were leading 3-0 in the first half.
Therefore, after thinking about it, Ralph agreed with Lu Wenbin's statement, generously admitted his own ideological errors, and took this opportunity to remind the other team members:
"I did underestimate the enemy. Lu is right. We can't be happy too soon. If we are overturned by Jena like AC Milan in Istanbul, we will become a laughing stock. Therefore, Lu will continue to stay on the court in the second half, and you also have to stay focused to prevent Jena's counterattack. Also, keep putting pressure on Jena in the frontcourt and keep scoring goals as much as possible, and kill the game completely!"
The team members responded loudly: "Yes!"
After the start of the second half, the head coach of Jena may have really used the halftime break to give some encouragement. The Jena players regained their morale, continued to defend tenaciously and tried to counterattack to stage a big reversal.
Moreover, they actually scored a goal.
In the 53rd minute, Eduardo was intercepted by the opponent during his personal breakthrough and launched a counterattack. Jena's No. 9 striker made a long-distance run and shot the ball into Hoffenheim's goal.
Jena pulled one point back and the score became Hoffenheim 3-1 Jena.
Seeing this scene, Ralf Rangnick on the sidelines began to worry: "Don't let something like what happened in Istanbul really happen!"
Fortunately, during the half-time break, the team listened to Lu Wenbin's advice and did not make any substitutions. The main players were still on the field and their strength did not decline.
In particular, Lu Wenbin, who had always wanted to score more goals and gain more system experience, quickly proved with practical actions that Ralph's decision not to replace him was the right one.
Although Jena's players were very careful to avoid fouls within a 30-meter range, sometimes fouls in an emergency are really unavoidable.
In the 68th minute, Salihovic caused a foul by dribbling through the opponent and won a free kick opportunity for Hoffenheim.
And Salihovic gave this opportunity to Lu Wenbin to take the penalty.
Although the system skill had been used and was cooling down, Lu Wenbin did not refuse.
After such a long period of practice, and observing and feeling the system's techniques, movements, strength, etc. when using skills, Lu Wenbin's own free kick level is actually quite high.
It’s just that his goal frame hitting rate in official matches is not as high as the system skills, his performance is not as stable as the system skills, and the angle is not as tricky, so he has never been able to score a goal through his own penalty kick.
This time, without the system's special skills, Lu Wenbin could only shoot free throws by himself.
After Jena's wall was lined up and the referee blew the whistle for a penalty kick, Lu Wenbin took a few steps and kicked the ball.
Under the attention of all the fans in the stadium, the football kicked by Lu Wenbin flew into the air, passed over the heads of the wall of people, then drew a faint arc in the air before hitting the bottom of the crossbar and bouncing into the goal.
Relying on the learning, training and 20/20 shooting during this period, Lu Wenbin used his own skills to complete a direct free kick outside the penalty area and scored a goal for the first time.
For Lu Wenbin, this was a memorable direct free kick of great significance!