On the court, De Jong looked depressed as he watched Lu Wenbin celebrating the goal with his teammates.
He really didn't expect that Lu Wenbin could actually score a free kick from such a close distance.
However, a small setback will not affect De Jong's playing style, and he is not the kind of person with weak will.
Even though he had already received a yellow card and Lu Wenbin had scored a free kick, he still fouled or tackled without any hesitation.
But Lu Wenbin scored the goal in the 34th minute. In the next ten minutes, Lu Wenbin did not get any threatening shooting opportunities under De Jong's defense, so there was no need for De Jong to deliberately foul and give Lu Wenbin a free kick.
After 1 minute of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half. Hoffenheim led Hamburg 1-0 in the first half thanks to a direct free kick by Lu Wenbin.
After a 15-minute halftime break, the two sides changed sides and continued the game.
In the first half, De Jong destroyed Lu Wenbin's several shooting opportunities with accurate interceptions, steals and tackles. In addition, the Hamburg goalkeeper performed well, so Lu Wenbin did not score a single goal in open play.
However, in the 66th minute of the second half, Lu Wenbin finally scored a goal in open play.
Moreover, this time Lu Wenbin received a cross pass from Ibrahimovic in the penalty area, and then he rushed against De Jong and forced the shot into the goal.
Lu Wenbin was not only able to score goals from free kicks, but he also withstood De Jong's charge and scored a goal in the penalty area.
After shooting the ball into the goal, Lu Wenbin lost his balance and was knocked to the ground by De Jong.
However, this no longer meant anything to De Jong and Hamburg, after all, the ball had already gone into the net.
In the 66th minute of the second half, Lu Wenbin scored twice to help Hoffenheim lead 2-0.
In fact, if it was Lu Wenbin before, the ball would most likely be knocked away by De Jong, or the shot would be deformed and lose its accuracy.
It was after the last game that Lu Wenbin increased his physique to 16/16, which allowed him to withstand De Jong's collision and complete the shot before being knocked down in this attack.
After leading 2-0, Hoffenheim's formation retreated a bit and strengthened its defense.
Hamburg wanted to attack and equalize the score, but Lu Wenbin, who was nailed in their half, was the biggest threat. At least De Jong and the two central defenders did not dare to press forward to attack.
Therefore, Hamburg did not score a single goal until the end of the game.
There were some shots that hit the goal frame, but in the end they were all saved by Ozcan who performed well.
Moreover, although Lu Wenbin did not score any more goals later, he used his magnetic attraction to create an indirect assist for his teammates.
In the 85th minute, Hoffenheim got a chance to counterattack. Eduardo passed the ball to Lu Wenbin in the frontcourt, but Lu Wenbin made a feint on the penalty area line and did not touch the ball at all.
The ball was missed by Lu Wenbin, but he shook the ball hard on De Jong next to him, the center back Reinhardt in front of him, and the goalkeeper Rost on the goal line.
By the time they realized that Lu Wenbin didn't touch the ball at all and let it slip to the other side of the restricted area, it was already too late.
Demba Ba broke into the penalty area from the wing and shot without stopping the ball. The ball went into the goal from under the armpit of goalkeeper Rost who hurriedly returned.
In the end, the game ended in a 3-0 victory, Hoffenheim defeated Hamburg at home and won the battle for the top spot.
Before the game, Lu Wenbin was thought to be defended by De Jong, but he showed a different kind of physical confrontation in this game. He continued to perform well and scored twice, which disappointed many people who thought they could use their beastly waist to keep a close eye on Lu Wenbin.
How to defend Lu Wenbin remains a difficult problem for all Hoffenheim opponents.
Of course, De Jong's defense did achieve certain results.
At least Lu Wenbin only scored one goal in open play, which gave other teams some reference.
In addition to Udinese's two UEFA Cup games, if they have the overall defensive capabilities of an Serie A team and a beastly midfielder like De Jong to closely defend them, they may be able to stop Lu Wenbin.
After the 9th round of the Bundesliga, Hoffenheim has 24 points and continues to rank first in the Bundesliga standings.
Although Hamburg lost the game, the teams behind them were unable to catch up and continued to rank second with 17 points.
But the fact that Hoffenheim was 7 points ahead of the second place after only 9 rounds still made countless people exclaim in disbelief.
A country club participating in the top league for the first time seems to be performing a miracle similar to Kaiserslautern's promotion.
Although it is still a long way from the end of the season and it is too early to talk about the championship, but at least there seems to be a possibility of competing for the championship. We have completely gotten rid of the impression that a newly promoted team is a relegation team.
Bookmakers have also significantly adjusted the odds of Hoffenheim winning the Bundesliga title this season.
If lottery players bet on Hoffenheim to win the championship before the start of the season and made a fortune in the end, they can't make that much money now.
However, the coaching staff of Hoffenheim is not so optimistic.
The consequence of fighting on three fronts simultaneously - the league, the UEFA Cup and the German Cup - is that some of the team's main players have begun to show signs of physical exhaustion.
From October 18 to October 26, the team played three games in nine days, an average of one game every three days, which is a higher density than the so-called two-game week.
There was also a tough UEFA Cup group match and a battle for the top spot in the Bundesliga, and everyone was physically exhausted.
It is better for people like Lu Wenbin who did not participate in national team competitions and rested for more than ten days. However, those international players who participated in national team competitions and then continued to participate in club competitions are even more tired.
It’s not that everyone can’t hold on for a few games, but considering the long-term battle of the entire season and some games that are more crucial in the later stages, the coaching staff has begun to discuss the need for rotation and can no longer rely on the same set of main players.
Apart from the goalkeeper, even the relatively fit midfielder Gustavo could not maintain a full season of appearances.
Although doing so will definitely lead to fluctuations in results, there is no way around it. We cannot really expect Hoffenheim to win all season, that would be too unrealistic.
Even though Lu Wenbin did not participate in the national team competition, Ralph and others were considering letting Lu Wenbin rest in some unnecessary games and then play in more important games.
For example, in ten days, on November 26, the team will travel to Spartak Moscow, Russia for the second round of the UEFA Cup group stage away game.
Considering the weather in Russia, this game will definitely be difficult.
Therefore, the coaching staff must consider letting Lu Wenbin play in this more important League Cup match to increase the team's chances of victory.
As for the two Bundesliga matches before the UEFA Cup group stage, we have to consider letting Lu Wenbin and other main players have a rest.
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