Lu Wenbin's goal completely stabilized the morale of the Chinese team, and Senegal was naturally left with a dead end.
However, there are sometimes accidents on the football field. It is not possible to always be in the lead just by having a good situation and psychological advantage.
After failing to score a goal in the opening attack, the Senegalese players were already a little impatient.
Now that we are behind in the score, we are naturally more anxious.
Therefore, after the game resumed, the Senegalese team attacked more aggressively, determined to score a goal.
Although African players are less disciplined, they are better than players from other continents in terms of physical fitness and motivation.
Under Senegal's continuous pressure attack, the Chinese team made a mistake in the 27th minute. Defender Jiang Zhipeng tackled Senegalese striker Koulibaly in the penalty area, not only receiving a yellow card but also giving the opponent a penalty kick.
Konate took the penalty and scored it into the dead corner. Zeng Cheng even jumped in the wrong direction.
Senegal equalized the score, and the Senegalese fans in the stands jumped and danced excitedly and celebrated wildly.
Jiang Zhipeng felt very annoyed and listless, still regretting the foul he committed in the restricted area just now.
But at this moment, the captain Lu Wenbin came over and patted him on the shoulder and said, "Cheer up and hold the defense well. It's just a penalty kick. We will definitely score more goals against them later."
The singing of Chinese fans also sounded in the stands at the right time. The song "Singing the Motherland" floated over the Millennium Stadium, bringing a new strength to Jiang Zhipeng.
Jiang Zhipeng nodded and said, "Don't worry, Captain, I won't make such a mistake again!"
Other teammates also came up to comfort Jiang Zhipeng, and then resumed the game.
In fact, Lu Wenbin was right. Senegal's penalty was largely accidental.
In the rest of the first half, although the Senegalese players were boosted by equalizing the score, they were unable to break through the Chinese team's goal.
On the contrary, it was the Chinese team. In the 41st minute, Lu Wenbin completed a long-distance attack and finally shot into the empty goal facing the goalkeeper.
Lu Wenbin scored twice and the Chinese team led 2-1 again.
All the Chinese fans at the scene and in front of the TV gave warm applause and cheers.
With a score of 2-1, both sides entered the halftime break.
After a 15-minute break, the two sides changed sides and Senegal still relied on the excellent physique of their black people to attack at the beginning, hoping to score a goal to equalize the score when the Chinese team was not paying attention.
But this time the Chinese team was mentally prepared and not surprised at all, blocking all of Senegal's attacks.
While maintaining a solid defense, the Chinese team also did not forget to counterattack.
In the 73rd minute, Senegal's shot from outside the penalty area was confiscated by Zeng Cheng. Zeng Cheng threw the ball to initiate an attack and the Chinese team launched a counterattack again.
However, this time Lu Wenbin participated in the defense and stood far back, so it was too late for him to act as the spearhead of the counterattack.
But Lu Wenbin has master-level passing and assisting abilities.
Zeng Cheng's thrown ball fell at Wu Xi's feet. Wu Xi dribbled the ball to avoid the opponent's forward's counter-attack and passed it to Lu Wenbin.
Wu Lei had already turned and rushed towards Senegal's half when Zeng Cheng threw the ball to initiate the attack.
When Wu Lei was about to be offside, Lu Wenbin made a precise pass and passed the ball.
The ball avoided the interception of two Senegalese players on the way and appeared at the front of Senegal's penalty area.
Wu Lei successfully made an offside move, received a through ball from Lu Wenbin and broke into the penalty area, then shot into the near corner facing the goalkeeper who came out.
Although goalkeeper Mane jumped in the right direction, the distance to the near corner was too close and the speed was too fast. The ball slipped past his palm before it reached the goal post and went into the near goal.
Lu Wenbin assisted Wu Lei to score another goal, and the Chinese team led Senegal 3-1.
The difference of two goals was enough to seal the victory.
Therefore, not only the fans, but also the players of the Chinese team celebrated enthusiastically. Finally, the celebration ended and the game was restarted after the protest of the Senegalese players.
After the game resumed, Senegal, which was two goals behind, almost sent out the entire team to attack, leaving only two central defenders to defend Wu Lei. Sometimes there was even only one, and the other central defender crossed the half court to participate in the attack.
However, although Senegal's attack looked powerful, there was no clear pattern to it.
Many players try to force their way past the opponent after getting the ball, but if they can't, they will avoid the angle outside the penalty area and then take a long shot that flies to an unknown destination.
Such an attack naturally had no effect and no goal was scored.
Although the Chinese team had many opportunities to counterattack, because Lu Wenbin was always involved in defense in the back, the attack in the frontcourt was left to Wu Lei, Cao Binding, Bali and others.
These players had poor shooting skills and had two good counterattack opportunities but neither of them hit the goal frame.
Finally, in the 87th minute, Lu Wenbin's position was slightly forward, and when the Chinese team got another chance to counterattack, the ball was passed to Lu Wenbin's feet.
Lu Wenbin turned around and rushed with the ball, preparing to make another long-distance run to score and completely seal the victory.
Time was almost up, and although Senegal was almost certain to lose, defender Sis didn't want Lu Wenbin to score any more goals and lose more.
So, when Lu Wenbin was about to pass him, he made a side tackle, knocking Lu Wenbin to the ground with the ball.
Although he received a yellow card, Sis thought it was unlikely that Lu Wenbin could kick the ball in because the distance was too far.
This free kick is 40 meters away from the goal, which is quite far. Unless the ball is hit at a speed of more than 100 kilometers per hour, the goalkeeper will have time to react and save it.
This kind of speed is hard to come by even for Lu Wenbin, who has a perfect physique. It is not something that can be achieved easily; it also depends on luck.
Under the gaze of countless spectators at the scene and in front of the TV, Lu Wenbin activated his special free kick skill and made a stunning long shot.
The ball first flew into the air, passed the wall of people, drew a faint arc and flew towards the upper left corner of the goal.
Goalkeeper Mane saw the flight path of the ball and began to move to the left, preparing to save the free kick in the upper left corner.
As a result, when he took two steps and was about to jump, he was shocked to find that the ball turned to the right.
Mane, whose center of gravity shifted to the left, was unable to move. He could only watch the ball fly into the right side of the goal. He stood still like a sculpture.
The British commentator in the commentary booth yelled:
“Goooooooooooooooooal…”
"Beautiful, Lu made a long-distance free kick, and it was an S-shaped arc, and goalkeeper Mane was fooled!"
"Lu completed his first hat trick in the London Olympics!"
That’s right, this was Lu Wenbin’s first hat trick in London.
Therefore, Lu Wenbin, who scored the goal, was also very excited. He rushed to the sidelines and gave his fiancée Kate a kiss to celebrate, which aroused applause and screams from the fans in the stadium.
After Lu Wenbin scored a hat trick to help the Chinese team take a 4-1 lead, the game completely lost its suspense. The Senegalese players lost interest in even equalizing the score and gave up the game completely.
Seeing this, the referee did not even add the full 3 minutes of extra time, and blew the whistle to end the game after more than 1 minute of extra time.
In the quarter-finals, the Chinese Olympic team defeated the African team Senegal 4-1 thanks to Lu Wenbin's hat trick and Wu Lei's goal, and advanced to the semi-finals.