Before the Hoffenheim vs. Udinese match started, the matches of several other German teams that started earlier on the same day had already ended.
Stuttgart beat Charomoli of Bulgaria 2-1 away, Hamburg drew 0-0 with Uniria from Romania at home, and Wolfsburg quickly tied 1-0 with Steaua Bucharest, also from Romania, at home, winning by one goal.
So far, five of the six German teams that played in the third round of the UEFA Cup qualifiers have finished the first round of the game, achieving a record of four wins and one draw.
Now it all depends on the performance of Hoffenheim, the last German team.
After an entrance ceremony and the captains' selection of sides, at 19:45 on the evening of September 18, local time in Germany, or 2:45 on the morning of September 19, Beijing time, with the referee's whistle, the first leg of the third round of the 2008/2009 UEFA Cup qualifiers between Hoffenheim and Udinese officially began.
Hoffenheim got the right to kick off. Amid the excited cheers of Hoffenheim fans, Lu Wenbin passed the ball to Ibisevic and then ran to the opponent's half.
The game was broadcast live throughout Germany, and CCTV-5 also broadcast it to Chinese fans.
After all, this is one of the few competitions in which Chinese players can play as core players in European competitions.
Therefore, even though it was already midnight in China, there were still countless Chinese fans who were paying attention to the European League and Lu Wenbin sitting in front of the TV to watch the game.
Of course, Lu Wenbin, who had already started the game, would not think about those things. He just wanted to score a goal quickly, help the team defeat Udinese, and take the initiative to advance to the second round of the UEFA Cup group stage.
However, after the game started, Lu Wenbin found that the opponent did not send anyone to closely guard him like the German team they had met before.
This surprised Lu Wenbin, and he also felt secretly happy, thinking that he would soon get a chance to shoot.
However, after 30 minutes, Lu Wenbin did not get even a single chance to shoot.
Not only did he not have the chance to shoot, he didn't even touch the ball very often. The few times he did touch the ball, he was forced to pass it back to his teammates.
Only then did Lu Wenbin realize that Udinese's defense was completely different from the Bundesliga teams he had encountered in the league before. It was also the first time that Lu Wenbin saw what Italian-style defense was.
In the Bundesliga, Hoffenheim's opponents basically sent people to closely guard Lu Wenbin, and then other players provided support to prevent Lu Wenbin from shooting or causing damage, blocking gun holes, etc.
However, Udinese did not do so, and did not even send anyone to closely guard Lu Wenbin.
They worked hard on their overall defense.
Udinese used chain defense and zone defense of seven or eight players in the midfield and backcourt to almost cut off Lu Wenbin's connection with other teammates.
Others don't face much pressure when they want to break through or shoot.
But whenever someone tried to pass the ball to Lu Wenbin, they would find that there were always Udinese players standing between them and Lu Wenbin, leaving them with almost no chance to pass the ball to Lu Wenbin.
Whenever the ball is passed, it will most likely be intercepted or destroyed by the opponent.
Even if Lu Wenbin made various shuttle runs and sudden stops and turns, it was useless because no one was assigned to follow Lu Wenbin, so there was no possibility that Lu Wenbin could use sudden stops and turns to get rid of the defensive players.
The Italian team's defensive capabilities are indeed unique in the football world.
Although Udinese was passively playing a defensive counterattack, with seven or eight players hiding in the backcourt to defend and not having many offensive opportunities themselves, they successfully froze Hoffenheim's first core Lu Wenbin.
This freeze is not a one-on-one man-to-man freeze, but rather the use of the Italian team's deep-rooted chain defense and zone defense to reduce Lu Wenbin's chances of getting the ball and the threat of Lu Wenbin's shooting.
Ralph was frowning as he watched from the sidelines, and the German commentators in the commentary booth also went from being full of confidence to being worried.
In fact, whether in the national team or the league, Italy is more restrained than Germany.
Judging from the historical record, at the national team level, Italy has won most of the matches against Germany in recent years.
In terms of league style, German teams focus on offense, while Italian teams focus on defense.
If it weren't for a team like Bayern Munich, which has so many superstars who can change the situation of the game by themselves, the German team would lose more than they win against the Italian team.
Like today's game, Udinese's tactics are quite clear, which is to try their best to cut off the connection between Hoffenheim's other teammates and Lu Wenbin.
Others can break through and shoot, but as long as they try to pass the ball to Lu Wenbin, they will be blocked at every level and will find it difficult to succeed.
Of course, Salihovic, Eduardo and others were not unaware of this situation, and they also tried to break through and score goals themselves.
However, on the one hand, Udinese itself plays a defensive counterattack, and there are many defensive players gathered in the backcourt, and there will not be too many gaps because of their defense against Lu Wenbin.
On the other hand, the shooting accuracy of Hoffenheim's other teammates is far from that of Lu Wenbin.
Within the first 30 minutes, Hoffenheim still created four or five shooting opportunities.
However, only one of their shots hit the goal frame, and it was saved by Udinese goalkeeper Samir Handanovic who reacted quickly, so they failed to score.
The situation was very difficult for Hoffenheim, who played at home, and not as easy as the German media commented before the game.
After watching for half an hour and finding that it was really difficult for Lu Wenbin to receive the ball and make the final shot, Ralph had to make tactical adjustments.
Taking advantage of a dead ball opportunity, Ralph called captain Salihovic to the sidelines to convey new tactical instructions.
Subsequently, Salihovic, Eduardo, Demba Ba and others began to increase the number of personal breakthroughs, trying to cause fouls on the opponent and create opportunities for Lu Wenbin to take free kicks in the frontcourt.
However, before Hoffenheim's free kick tactics could take effect, Udinese scored a counterattack goal in the 38th minute through their No. 10 striker Di Natale.
Udinese leads Hoffenheim 1-0 away from home and scored a crucial away goal.
At that moment, the entire Mercedes-Benz Stadium was almost silent, with only the ecstatic cheers and screams of hundreds of Udinese fans filling the stadium.
Lu Wenbin stood at the front of Udinese's restricted area, watching the Udinese players running wildly on the field to celebrate, his eyes filled with fighting spirit.
The head coach was right, European competitions are indeed two different worlds from the league, and the Italians proved this to Lu Wenbin with their excellent overall defense and deadly counterattacks.
If Lu Wenbin wants to win the League Cup and achieve the treble, he must work even harder.
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