On the evening of January 10, 2011, Lu Wenbin won the 2010 FIFA Ballon d'Or at the Zurich Conference Center in Switzerland, becoming the biggest news in the world that night and the next day.
"The biggest mystery of the 2010 world football year-end is revealed, Chinese player Lu Wenbin won the three major awards of Best Forward, Best Goal and FIFA Golden Ball Award!"
"Won the Ballon d'Or at the age of 20, Lu Wenbin surpassed Ronaldo who won the award at the age of 21 and became the youngest Ballon d'Or winner in football history!"
In China, Lu Wenbin's award has produced an enormous social impact.
Not only sports media, but also countless major political media, including People's Daily, Xinhuanet, CCTV News Network, etc., have broadcast and published the news that Lu Wenbin won the Golden Globe Award.
As for Lu Wenbin's hometown of Guizhou, television, newspapers, radio and Internet news websites have been reporting extensively on Lu Wenbin's winning of the award.
The youngest Ballon d'Or winner in history, the first Ballon d'Or winner in China and even Asia, are enough to attract the attention of the whole country.
This is a national honor.
When Chinese football was in its darkest period, it was the emergence of Lu Wenbin that allowed Chinese fans to maintain a little confidence in Chinese football and continued to attract new fans to pay attention to football. The number of Lu Wenbin's Tieba fans skyrocketed by millions overnight.
Of course, Lu Wenbin mentioned the Chinese High School Football League in his acceptance speech at the award ceremony, which also attracted the attention of domestic leaders.
This shows that campus football is useful and that investment should continue to increase. Other supporting facilities, such as football fields, should also continue to be added.
Lu Wenbin's Golden Ball Award had a huge stimulating effect on the domestic football scene. Countless young people who originally had no interest in football began to buy balls, shoes, wear jerseys, and find places to play football, just like the Chinese national football team entered the Korea-Japan World Cup in 2001.
If we can win the Asian Cup in Qatar again, Chinese football will really have hit rock bottom and rebounded.
After the award ceremony, naturally many journalists from various countries wanted to interview Lu Wenbin, but how could Lu Wenbin have the time
Therefore, he could only hold a 30-minute press conference, briefly answer the most pressing questions from reporters, and then go back to the hotel to rest.
After returning to the hotel, I celebrated excitedly with my family until late at night.
Then, early the next morning, Lu Wenbin and his family boarded a special plane back to Doha, Qatar.
He still has to play in the Asian Cup!
While Lu Wenbin was still on the plane, the organizing committee of another sports award also announced the nomination list for 2011. This sports award is the "Laureus World Sports Award".
The Laureus Awards originated in 2000 and are the most influential comprehensive sports awards in the world.
The FIFA Ballon d'Or is exclusive to football, while the Laureus Award covers all sports, including not only football, but also basketball, tennis, racing, cycling and so on.
As long as it is a sports event and you have performed outstandingly in the past year, you may be nominated or even win the award.
Of course, generally speaking, the winners still have to consider the popularity and influence of the project. If the project is too niche and the nominees do not have outstanding achievements, they will not be able to win the award.
2011 is the 12th Laureus Awards. The award ceremony will be held on February 7 in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The nomination list has been announced.
On the nomination list for the best male athlete of the year, Lu Wenbin, who just won the FIFA Golden Ball Award, appeared on the nomination list together with Kobe who plays basketball, Nadal who plays tennis, Manny Pacquiao who plays boxing, Vettel who drives a car, and others.
The uncertainty of this award is greater than that of the FIFA Ballon d'Or. After all, the other winners have also achieved brilliant results in their respective fields, and their achievements are not much worse than Lu Wenbin's in the field of football.
Although basketball, tennis, boxing, and racing are not as popular as football, the number one sport, they are also large-scale sports with a very wide audience and their influence is not bad.
It will take another month to find out whether Lu Wenbin will win the award.
However, after arriving in Qatar and getting off the special plane, Lu Wenbin was not in the mood to enjoy the joy of being nominated for the Laureus Awards.
Because of two consecutive days of long-distance flights and fatigue, coupled with the nervousness before and excitement after winning the award, the ups and downs of mood, the drastic change in temperature between Qatar and Sweden, etc., Lu Wenbin's body had unexpected problems.
Lu Wenbin, who had almost never gotten sick after his physique was maxed out, actually fell ill after returning to Qatar!
Lu Wenbin, who just won the FIFA Golden Ball Award and was nominated for the Laureus Sports Award, actually caught a cold
Taking advantage of the momentum of winning the Golden Globe Award, Lu Wenbin's cold made headlines in many national media newspapers.
Of course, this is bad news for the Chinese team and Chinese fans who are playing in the Asian Cup.
Lu Wenbin's long-distance flight to Sweden to receive the award between the two group matches was already very physically demanding, and now he has a cold, which undoubtedly casts a shadow on the Chinese team's second group match.
Moreover, China's second group match opponent is the host Qatar, which is simply adding insult to injury.
The day after returning to Qatar, on the afternoon of January 12, 2011, the second round of the Asian Cup Group A match between Uzbekistan and Kuwait began.
90 minutes later, Uzbekistan defeated Kuwait 2-1, winning both games and accumulating 6 points and 3 goals. Although it cannot be said that it has qualified in advance, it has already taken the initiative to qualify.
In the evening, the Chinese team will play against the host Qatar.
Although a cold seems to be just a minor illness, no matter how good the medicine you use, it is impossible to recover in a day or two.
Therefore, in this game, although Lu Wenbin, who was in poor health, was included in the roster, he was not able to start and could only sit on the bench and was unable to play until the end of the game.
As for Qatar, after losing the first group match, they fought hard in this game with the cheers of their home fans.
Although the Chinese team tried hard to maintain a draw, they failed.
Moreover, the referee did show a certain degree of favoritism towards Qatar during the game and even awarded Qatar a penalty kick.
Of course, there is no such thing as an obvious false whistle. The Qataris have not gone as far as the Koreans.
After 90 minutes, the Chinese team lost 0-3 to Qatar.
As a result, China and Qatar both have 3 points. China ranks second in the group with 2 goals difference, Qatar ranks third with 1 goal difference, and Kuwait ranks last after losing both games.
However, in the last game Qatar faced Kuwait, the weakest team in the group and as the host country, it was unclear how many goals Qatar would win.
In the last round, the Chinese team will face Uzbekistan, which has won two games in a row. They must win, a draw is not acceptable.
As long as they win, the Chinese team will surpass Uzbekistan in terms of goal difference even if they have the same points.
In that case, no matter what the results of the games between Qatar and Kuwait are, the Chinese team will be sure to qualify.
If they fail to win, the Chinese team, the favorite to win the Asian Cup with the new FIFA Ballon d'Or winner Lu Wenbin, may not be able to qualify and will go home after the group stage.
This is a huge blow both to Lu Wenbin personally and to Chinese fans who have just become enthusiastic because of Lu Wenbin's Golden Ball Award.
China's last round match against Uzbekistan has become a life-and-death battle that must be won. (Seeking monthly votes)