Due to the appearance of football star Lu Wenbin, the Bavarian Chinese Carnival in Dietfurt became famous. Many German sports media and comprehensive media reported on it, attracting more people to visit Dietfurt.
Lu Wenbin returned to Hoffenheim and rested for a night. When he joined the team for training the next morning on January 27, his teammates and coaches curiously asked Lu Wenbin about Dietfurt, saying that they would like to go and see it if they had the chance.
After Chinese reporters reported the relevant information about Dietfurt back to China, it also caused heated discussion among domestic netizens.
Everyone was surprised to find that there is such a small town in Europe that loves China. Some Chinese who are going to travel to Europe also plan to see the Chinatown in Europe.
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After recovery training in the morning, Hoffenheim set off for Mainz in the afternoon to prepare for the third round of the German Cup against Mainz the next day.
This is Hoffenheim's first official game after the winter break.
At the pre-match press conference, the media continued to pay attention to the injuries of Ibisevic and Obasi, and asked about Hoffenheim's starting lineup, tactical choices, etc.
Facing the German second division team, although the team had some difficulties in arranging the lineup, Ralph still confidently announced the starting lineup and formation, and was not afraid of Mainz's targeted arrangements.
If the number one team in the Bundesliga is still timid when playing against a team from the German Second Division, it will give the media who are not optimistic about them an excuse.
The next day, at 20:30 on the evening of January 28, 2009, the third round of the 2008/2009 German Football Association Cup quarter-final match between Hoffenheim and Mainz of the German Second Division officially began.
Due to the absence of Ibisevic and the injury of Obasi, Ralph could only send out a 442 midfield diamond formation. The starting center was the original No. 7 substitute Dragan Paljic.
The two forwards are Paljic and Lu Wenbin, and Demba Ba sits on the bench as a mobile force.
Of course, Mainz continued to learn from Bayern and Schalke 04's practice of double-marking Lu Wenbin, and went a step further. Within 40 meters from the goal, two people closely marked Lu Wenbin to avoid Lu Wenbin's long shots.
Anyway, Hoffenheim's forward line now only has two people, not three.
Moreover, the threat posed by Parjic to the opponent is not as great as that posed by Ibisevic, so Mainz can spare more manpower to guard Lu Wenbin.
As for long shots from 40 meters away, as long as the goalkeeper is not standing forward like Neuer, there will be enough reaction time to make a save, and there will be basically no danger.
Lu Wenbin had some trouble playing this game, even though his opponent was a German second division team.
On the one hand, the double-man defense after the opponent expanded the range reduced Lu Wenbin's chances of long-range shots. On the other hand, the tacit understanding between Lu Wenbin and Paljic was far inferior to that of Ibisevic, and there was no third striker to run, pull, and support.
The forward line relies entirely on the cooperation of Lu Wenbin and Paljic. The passing and receiving of the ball is not very smooth, and it is also relatively easy for the opponent to defend.
Finally, there is another reason. Lu Wenbin had just celebrated the New Year in Dietfurt with his girlfriend two days ago and participated in the Dietfurt carnival parade. His on-the-spot condition in this game was a bit poor and he may have only exerted 70 to 80 percent of his ability.
Sometimes Lu Wenbin ran into the open space, but Paljic failed to pass the ball in time.
Sometimes Lu Wenbin was offside and Paljich passed the ball to him, but it was useless.
Sometimes Lu Wenbin felt that he had little chance of shooting, so he passed the ball to Paljic, but Paljic didn't even react. He didn't expect Lu Wenbin to pass the ball to him and then it was intercepted by the opponent.
In addition, he occasionally got a chance to shoot, but because of the interference of the two opponent's defenders and his own on-the-spot problems, the shooting angle was not sharp and the power was not strong, etc., and the ball was either saved by the goalkeeper or went wide of the goal.
Throughout the game, Lu Wenbin only had four or five shooting opportunities in open play, only two of which hit the goal frame and were saved by the Mainz goalkeeper. He did not score a single goal in open play.
Fortunately, Lu Wenbin still has a trump card, which is the free kick.
There are no status issues with system special skills.
In the 32nd minute of the first half, Lu Wenbin was knocked down by his opponent. The referee awarded a free kick in the frontcourt. Lu Wenbin activated his system skills and scored the free kick.
Apart from Lu Wenbin's free kick goal, attacking midfielder Eduardo, who was suspended for the next two Bundesliga games, put all his energy into this game.
Eduardo made one assist and one shot throughout the game. Not only did he score a goal after dribbling past two players, he also assisted Salihovic to score a goal.
Mainz, playing at home, tried their best to score two goals with the cheers of the fans, but still lost to Hoffenheim with a score of 2-3.
They were relatively successful in defending Lu Wenbin in mobile warfare, but lost to Eduardo.
Hoffenheim advanced to the next round of the German Cup with a narrow 1-0 win over Mainz away from home.
After the game, Eduardo was selected as the best player of the game, and Lu Wenbin rarely became a foil.
Moreover, Lu Wenbin's poor performance also became the focus of media discussion.
You know, Eduardo won't be able to play in the next Bundesliga game.
It was so difficult to play against the German second division team in this game, and we only achieved a narrow victory by one goal. Eduardo will not be able to play in the next round of the Bundesliga. Can the out-of-form Lu Wenbin still lead Hoffenheim to defeat the Bundesliga team
These doubts were naturally refuted strongly by Ralph: Lu Wenbin scored a free kick, how can it be said that he was in poor condition
Do you have to score two or three goals in every game to be considered a normal performance? Is that still a human being
In the first half of the season, both Lu Wenbin and Hoffenheim were newcomers and newly promoted teams in the Bundesliga. Everyone was unfamiliar with them and was somewhat caught off guard.
Now, as opponents have studied and become familiar with Lu Wenbin and Hoffenheim, and the team is suffering from injuries, it is foreseeable that Lu Wenbin will score fewer and fewer goals, and Hoffenheim's games will become increasingly difficult.
But no matter how difficult it is, Hoffenheim will continue to work towards the goal of winning the Bundesliga championship.
We cannot deny Ralph's stubbornness. Whether Lu Wenbin is normal and whether Hoffenheim can still perform as well as in the first half of the season, we will know after watching the actual game.
Lu Wenbin knew that he did not perform well in this game, but there were many reasons for this, so he did not care too much.
It is indeed as Ralph said, as time goes by, opponents will study him more and more deeply and guard against him more and more strictly, and it is certain that he will have fewer and fewer shooting opportunities.
But it doesn't mean that he will never get any shooting opportunities or score goals. No team can really freeze him completely unless the opponent's 10 players except the goalkeeper only defend him.
He performed poorly in this game. In addition to the opponent's double defense, the reasons were also his own poor on-the-spot condition and lack of cooperation with his teammates.
After two more days of adjustment, his condition will be restored.
Then he strengthened his cooperation with Paljic in training, and he is still the super shooter who scores goals like crazy.
Of course, what gives Lu Wenbin the greatest confidence is his own championship system.
As long as the game continues to improve, no one can stop him from scoring goals.