After Lu Wenbin scored a goal to give China a 1-0 lead, China's defensive counterattack strategy became more resolute.
Although it was impossible for the Chinese players to defend flawlessly due to their limited abilities, when midfielders Yu Hai, Hao Junmin and Zheng Zhi often returned to their own half to help with defense, the accumulation of numbers made it difficult for the Japanese team's offense to penetrate the Chinese team's defense.
As for the Chinese team, although Lu Wenbin was the only one fighting alone most of the time, his personal ability was indeed too outstanding, and sometimes he could break through the Japanese team's defense alone.
Lu Wenbin’s strength after returning to normal is truly terrifying.
Otherwise, he would not have scored 94 goals in two consecutive years, won the European Golden Boot for two consecutive seasons, and set the European goal record for two consecutive seasons.
Lu Wenbin now has many skills such as off-ball running, physique, speed, dribbling, heading, shooting, passing, etc.
Moreover, his state stability is much higher than other players. Except for a cold a few days ago, Lu Wenbin's state rarely fluctuates.
On the one hand, it may be that the skills improved by the system are more stable. On the other hand, it may also be related to Lu Wenbin's more self-disciplined life.
As soon as he became famous, he had a beautiful and talented girlfriend living with him, and she also worked as a freelance author, so she could be with Lu Wenbin for a long time.
On the one hand, this provides a place for athlete Lu Wenbin to release his vigorous energy, and on the other hand, it also provides someone older than him to control him.
Although Kate seems to be more open-minded, women's jealous and possessive nature will not change. She will not allow Lu Wenbin to go to nightclubs or even hook up with other women. She will not let Lu Wenbin become addicted to nightclubs like Ronaldinho and ruin himself.
In addition, he witnessed his teammates being defeated 3-0 by Qatar in the second round of the group stage, and fought until he fainted in the third round of the group stage before he reversed the score and qualified. Lu Wenbin himself has been quite frustrated during this period.
He had just won the FIFA Golden Ball Award and was preparing to show his skills, but then he caught a cold and the team's performance went on a roller coaster ride through hell and heaven.
Lu Wenbin had been holding back for a few days and had long wanted to show off his prowess on the court.
In addition, the opponent in this game is Japan. Not to mention the fact that the Chinese national football team has not won against Japan for more than ten years, the historical hatred between the two countries alone is enough to make Lu Wenbin's adrenaline surge, and he vowed to defeat the opponent and achieve a big victory.
Various factors combined made Lu Wenbin's performance in this game seem to be above average.
Even though his teammates focused most of their energy on defense, Lu Wenbin was still able to send the ball into the Japanese team's goal with his personal ability.
More than ten minutes later, in the 27th minute, Lu Wenbin retreated to the midfield to get the ball, then used his speed and dribbling to run past three people, and faced the goalkeeper Kawashima Eiji who was attacking outside the penalty area, and shot into the empty goal.
Lu Wenbin scored twice and the Chinese team led 2-0.
All the Chinese fans cheered and screamed wildly.
However, the Japanese team is still very strong.
Although no one can compare to Lu Wenbin, the players in other positions are still stronger than the Chinese team, including powerful stars such as Shinji Kagawa, Keisuke Honda and Makoto Hasebe.
In the 35th minute, the Japanese team finally scored a goal thanks to the inspiration of their star player, and the scorer was Shinji Kagawa.
At that time, the Japanese team was passing the ball around the Chinese team's penalty area. They had almost no way to deal with the Chinese team's iron bucket formation. But as they were passing the ball around, Shinji Kagawa suddenly made a lob shot from outside the right corner of the penalty area.
Yang Zhi was standing at the near end. Although the speed of his lob shot was not fast, Shinji Kagawa had good footwork and a sharp angle, so the ball fell into the far corner.
Although Yang Zhi stepped back and jumped up in time to save the ball, he only touched the ball with his fingers but failed to prevent the ball from entering the net.
The Japanese team relied on their strong strength and individual performances of their stars to tenaciously score a goal against the weak Chinese team's defense, giving them hope of equalizing the game.
However, it wasn't long before Lu Wenbin shattered their hopes.
In the 40th minute, Lu Wenbin made another long-distance attack, and broke through Honda Keisuke and Yoshida Maya in succession and reached the top of the penalty area, and was about to enter the penalty area.
The Japanese team, which had been extremely nervous after Lu Wenbin's two goals, didn't care about the positioning of other Chinese players at all. The remaining players who were closer, such as Konno Yasuyuki, Nagatomo Yuto, Hasebe Makoto and others, swarmed around Lu Wenbin, trying to stop him from entering the penalty area, leaving Yu Hai who was on the wing completely unguarded.
So, Lu Wenbin suddenly kicked the ball while running and passed it to the left side of the penalty area.
Yu Hai, who came on the wing, did not waste Lu Wenbin's assist and this one-on-one opportunity. He received the ball without any defense, took a step closer to the goal, and then shot a near corner facing goalkeeper Kawashima Eiji.
The distance was too close, and even though Kawashima Eiji made a subconscious save, it was of no avail.
The ball went into the goal through the gap between him and the goal post, and the Chinese team expanded the score to 3-1.
Although this goal was not scored by Lu Wenbin, most of the credit still goes to him.
It was his seemingly indomitable long-distance run that caused the Japanese team to panic. They completely forgot about overall defense and swarmed to surround Lu Wenbin, giving Yu Hai the opportunity to shoot calmly.
After falling behind by two goals, the Japanese team was still very tenacious and continued to besiege the Chinese team. The Chinese team continued to set up a solid defense and let Lu Wenbin attack alone in the frontcourt.
In the next few minutes, the Chinese team withstood the Japanese team's attack, and Lu Wenbin's counterattack was also stopped by a tactical foul by the Japanese team.
After 1 minute of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half, and both sides entered the halftime break with a score of 3-1.
Due to the advantage of a two-goal lead, during the half-time break, Gao Hongbo replaced two offensive midfielders, Hao Junmin and Yu Hai, with two defensive midfielders to strengthen the defense.
The current formation of the Chinese team is almost 5311, with 5 defenders, 3 defensive midfielders, 1 attacking midfielder Zheng Zhi, and 1 forward Lu Wenbin.
The frontcourt relied on Zheng Zhi and Lu Wenbin to cooperate in counterattacks, and even the all-around midfielder Zheng Zhi had to retreat and participate in defense most of the time.
After a 15-minute break, the two sides changed sides and continued the game.
After seeing the Chinese team's substitutions and more extreme defensive iron bucket formation, the Japanese coach and players became even more anxious.
The difference of 2 goals is not big, but not small either. It all depends on luck.
Anyway, the Japanese team cannot retreat to the backcourt to defend, they must attack, even at the risk of being counterattacked by Lu Wenbin. (Seeking monthly votes)