At 19:30 on the evening of June 3, 2012 Beijing time, with the referee's whistle, the first match between China and Iraq at home officially began.
The Chinese team's formation is still 4231, but the specific tactics of this game is not defensive counterattack, but offensive pressure.
Because Iraq showed a defensive and counterattacking stance from the start, the Chinese team had to start attacking after a few attempts.
At the Asian level, any team would probably not dare to attack the Chinese team led by Lu Wenbin, let alone on the road.
Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why Iraq's head coach, the famous Brazilian coach Zico, asked his team to adopt a defensive and counterattacking posture from the beginning.
With the opponent in such a state, the Chinese team naturally cannot hide behind and wait for others to attack.
This is the Chinese team's home court. It would be a laughing stock if the Asian Cup champions did not dare to attack.
In the 7th minute, Lu Wenbin almost assisted Gao Lin to score, but unfortunately Gao Lin's shot went over the crossbar, once again demonstrating with his actions the correctness of his nickname "Gao Airplane".
In the 12th minute, Lu Wenbin passed two players and shot in the penalty area, but the Iraqi defender Akram blocked the shot and the ball went out of the baseline.
The subsequent corner kick was not taken and was cleared by an Iraqi player who headed the ball out of the penalty area.
In addition to passing the ball, organizing breakthroughs and shooting, Lu Wenbin also actively participated in counter-attacks.
If the ball falls to the opponent's feet, as long as the distance is not far, Lu Wenbin will rush up to counter-steal.
Previously, Lu Wenbin’s defensive ability and positioning were not high, his counter-attacks were ineffective, and he was often passed by his opponents.
But in today's game, Lu Wenbin's ability to counter-steal was surprising.
In the first ten minutes, Lu Wenbin had a successful counter-attack and almost posed a threat, but Iraq escaped because his teammates failed to grab the ball he poked out.
However, in the 16th minute, the Iraqi defender finally made a mistake when passing the ball in the backcourt.
Lu Wenbin, Gao Lin and Hao Junmin counterattacked together, forcing Iraqi full-back Munir to pass the ball forward.
But Munir didn't want to lose possession of the ball and wanted to keep the ball at his teammates' feet for a while to avoid losing the ball.
Because Lu Wenbin's counter-stealing ability was not very strong in previous games, Munir didn't care too much.
Under Lu Wenbin's pressure, he did not kick the ball out with a long kick, but prepared to pass it to midfielder Jasim who seemed to be in an open space in the middle.
However, at the moment when Munir was about to pass the ball, Lu Wenbin's full anti-stealing ability allowed him to seize the opportunity to suddenly steal the ball. He fell to the ground and kicked the ball together with Munir. The two kicked each other.
But Lu Wenbin's tackle was much more powerful, and Munir lost the ball with his feet. He staggered due to the sudden inertia, took a step forward, and lost control of the football.
Lu Wenbin, who was lying on the ground, swept the stopped football to the direction of Gao Lin in the middle, then got up and rushed into the penalty area from the side.
This time the ball was at Munir's feet and Iraq could have launched a counterattack, so the other players began to run forward, ready to receive Munir's pass and launch a counterattack.
Few people expected that Lu Wenbin, who had mediocre defensive ability, actually successfully intercepted Munir's ball and passed the ball to Gao Lin in time while lying on the ground.
The Chinese team launched a counterattack after stealing the ball in the frontcourt, and the Chinese fans in the stands stood up excitedly.
The Iraqi players also rushed over nervously to defend Gao Lin and Hao Junmin not far away. As for Lu Wenbin who had just crawled up from the ground, only Munir, who had just been intercepted, followed him.
After receiving the ball, Gao Lin dribbled horizontally to the middle, dribbled past an opponent and broke through to the top of the penalty area, but he did not shoot this time. Instead, he passed the ball to Hao Junmin at the front of the penalty area.
Gao Lin's breakthrough and passing, as well as Hao Junmin's running and receiving the ball, attracted most of Iraq's already limited defensive energy. When Lu Wenbin rushed into the penalty area, there was only Munir defending him.
After receiving the ball on the right, Hao Junmin did not stop the ball or shoot. Instead, he rubbed the ball high and passed it to the left side of the penalty area.
Lu Wenbin is rushing towards that position from the left.
The Iraqi players looked in the direction the ball was flying and saw Lu Wenbin rushing in. When they wanted to defend, it was too late.
Although Munir was following him, Lu Wenbin was faster and had a better physique than Munir, so Munir was unable to get forward and hold his position.
Lu Wenbin crossed the penalty area line, shook off Munir's hand while running, jumped up, and headed the ball towards the goal with a standard diving dive.
The full header attribute allows Lu Wenbin to still have enough energy to choose the angle during such a sprint and header, and head the ball towards the far goal.
Goalkeeper Cassid, who was moving towards Lu Wenbin after seeing Hao Junmin pass the ball, was headed in the opposite direction by Lu Wenbin. Although he managed to turn around and rush out while running, he was helpless against the diving header from such a tricky angle.
The ball flew into the far goal along the bottom of the crossbar under the excited gaze of all Chinese fans in the stadium.
Lu Wenbin intercepted the ball in the frontcourt, launched a counterattack and scored with a header, scoring the first goal for the Chinese team in this game, which was also the first goal of the top ten matches. The Chinese team led Iraq 1-0 at home.
Seeing the goal, the commentator from CCTV shouted excitedly in the live broadcast booth:
"The ball goes in, the Chinese team scored! Lu Wenbin intercepted the ball in the frontcourt and launched a counterattack, then rushed into the penalty area and scored a header himself, scoring the first goal for the Chinese team in the top ten!"
The stands of Hongkou Stadium and countless fans across China who were watching the live broadcast instantly jumped up, clapping, cheering and screaming in celebration.
Lu Wenbin, who fell to the ground after a diving header, had just gotten up when he was surrounded by his teammates and hugged and celebrated.
Munir, who was counterattacked by Lu Wenbin after the ball was intercepted, slapped himself. Perhaps he was still regretting why he passed the ball when facing Lu Wenbin's counterattack instead of kicking the ball to the front court in advance.
After the game resumed, the fans were still excited about the first goal, but commentators from various countries began to analyze the causes and consequences of this goal.
Obviously, Lu Wenbin's role in this goal has been upgraded compared to before.
This was not an accidental counter-attack in the frontcourt. Lu Wenbin had succeeded once before, but his teammates did not seize the opportunity.
The ability of Lu Wenbin to counter-attack in the frontcourt demonstrated in these ten minutes has improved a lot compared to when he played for Real Madrid before.
Lu Wenbin became more and more terrifying.
Iraqi coach Zico frowned and had to remind his players to pass the ball in time after stealing it in the backcourt to guard against counterattacks by Lu Wenbin and other Chinese team members in the frontcourt.
It is very easy to lose the ball when the ball is suddenly intercepted in your own backcourt and you counterattack, just like this first goal.
Therefore, it is understandable that Zico asked the backcourt players to be more decisive when handling the ball.