A total of 35 teams registered for the 2012 Olympic Men's Football Asian Qualifiers, which was divided into four stages.
The first stage is the qualifying round, in which the 22 lower-ranked teams in Asia will play home and away knockout matches to determine the 11 winning teams that will advance to the second stage.
The 11 winning teams in the first stage will play home and away games with the 13 higher-ranked teams in the second stage to determine the 12 winning teams that will advance to the third stage group stage.
The Chinese Olympic Team does not have to play in the first stage of the competition, but will start directly from the second stage. Their opponent is Oman, which is the opponent that Lu Wenbin is currently facing.
The third stage is the group stage. The 12 winning teams in the second stage will be divided into three groups to play a double round-robin match. The top team in each group will directly advance to the London Olympics.
Then the second place in each group advances to the fourth stage, the three second-placed teams play a single round-robin, and the first place qualifies for the play-offs with the African region.
That is to say, 3.5 places are allocated to the Asian region in the men's football competition of the 2012 London Olympics.
The easiest way is to advance directly as the top team in the third stage, which is the group stage.
Lu Wenbin’s goal, of course, is to advance directly as the group stage leader, rather than having to play in the fourth stage and then play a play-off with an African team. That would be a waste of time and life!
He still has to play in the Brazil World Cup qualifiers for the senior national team!
Of course, to advance to the group stage, they need to pass the test of the second stage of the competition, which means eliminating Oman in two home and away games.
Because it is too hot in the summer, football matches are usually held at night.
On the evening of June 19, 2011, the Shanghai Hongkou Football Stadium was bustling with people, and all 35,000 seats were filled.
The U23 National Olympic Team's competition is the second stage of qualifying. It would have been absolutely impossible for so many people to attend in previous years.
A bad show might even have only a few hundred spectators.
But now, the stadium is packed, the stands are full of Chinese fans, and countless people are shouting Lu Wenbin's name, extremely excited.
When Lu Wenbin led the National Olympic Team into the stadium for warm-up, the cheers and screams from the audience reached their peak.
Obviously, most people came for Lu Wenbin.
In the season that just ended, Lu Wenbin led Inter Milan to win the treble and scored 5 goals in 8 minutes, attracting scrambles from major European giants. Now, there are transfer rumors about him in major European media every day, and his fame and reputation in the country has reached a new peak.
Therefore, even if it was a qualifying match for the National Olympic Team, there were so many fans and followers coming to watch it.
Wu Sihuo, the third substitute goalkeeper of the National Olympic Team, said to Lu Wenbin enviously: "I wonder when I will have so many spectators applauding and cheering for me?"
Lu Wenbin patted Wu Sihuo on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, take your time. There will always be a day like that. When I have time, I will ask for you if I can go to Europe to play football."
Wu Sihuo is Lu Wenbin's fellow Guizhou native. He met him at the provincial finals of the Guizhou High School Football League. He is from Xingyi No. 1 Middle School in Qianxinan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. He entered the professional team through the provincial high school league and is now the main goalkeeper of the China League One Guizhou Zhicheng.
Wu Sihuo entered a professional team as an amateur high school player, and was promoted to the main goalkeeper of a China League One team in just a few years. In fact, Wu Sihuo's talent and speed of improvement are already fast enough.
However, compared with Lu Wenbin, he is obviously far behind. No wonder Wu Sihuo is so envious.
However, when Wu Sihuo heard Lu Wenbin say that he would help him go abroad to play football in Europe, he immediately forgot about the audience and asked excitedly, "Really?"
Lu Wenbin nodded and said, "Of course it's true, but don't get too excited. I'm just asking for you. We don't know if it will work. Even if it does, it will probably be at the level of the German 2nd or 3rd division. Don't expect to enter the top five leagues."
Wu Sihuo smiled and said, "I know my own strength. Let alone the top five leagues, it would be a blessing to be able to enter the third level of the top five leagues. It would be a blessing to be able to enter the second level."
Lu Wenbin said: "Well, it's good that you know. But don't worry, I will ask my personal assistant to help you contact them."
Wu Sihuo said: "Thank you!"
Lu Wenbin said: "We are from the same province and the same high school league. We should help each other. There is no need to be so polite."
Wu Sihuo nodded and said nothing more.
The so-called helping each other is just Lu Wenbin's polite words!
As the world's number one superstar, what can he do to help Lu Wenbin
Only Lu Wenbin helped him.
All he can do is to train and compete hard so as not to let Lu Wenbin down.
Wu Sihuo no longer paid attention to the audience in the stands, but instead warmed up and made preparations seriously.
Although he is the third goalkeeper, he will definitely not get any chance to play even if the main goalkeeper has an accident, but he also has to warm up well.
From now on, he will train himself like a European professional player.
…
Not to mention the psychological changes of substitute goalkeeper Wu Sihuo, when the Omani players entered the field later and started warming up, they were frightened by the momentum of tens of thousands of Chinese fans.
You know, except for captain Al Barous who plays for a semi-professional team in the UAE, all other players of the Oman Olympic team are from domestic amateur teams.
When have they ever seen tens of thousands of fans
It would be a lot if there were several thousand people cheering for the National Olympic Team during their home games.
"There are so many Chinese people!" Defender Salim said foolishly, and other teammates nodded.
"It's not that there are too many Chinese people, it's that Lu Wenbin is too famous. Look, there are so many reporters, even from Europe." Captain Albarus pointed to the press box.
When everyone looked over, they saw that the press seats were indeed packed, and there were dozens of photographers on the sidelines, including many blond-haired, blue-eyed European and American reporters.
All of these are because of Lu Wenbin.
Without Lu Wenbin, European and American reporters would not even bother to report on the games of Asian adult national teams, let alone the national Olympic teams below U23
Everyone couldn't help but feel envious.
Striker Haldan's eyes lit up and he said, "There are so many spectators, so many reporters, and even European and American reporters. If we can score a goal, won't we become famous all over the world?"
When the other teammates heard this, their eyes lit up immediately. They turned pressure into motivation and started warming up actively, preparing to compete with the Chinese team later.
Even if we can't win, scoring a goal is a victory.
After the warm-up, both sides returned to the locker room, changed into official game jerseys, and then started to play.
When the national anthem was played, the loud singing of the "March of the Volunteers" by more than 30,000 people in the stadium once again shocked the Omani players.
Of course, they want to score a goal and become famous all over the world. (Seeking monthly votes)