Brazil's continued attack put great pressure on the Chinese team, which only had two counterattacks in the first 20 minutes.
In one incident, Lu Wenbin was intercepted after running a long distance across half the field with the ball. In another incident, Wu Xi made a straight pass to Wu Lei, but Wu Lei was not fast enough and was cleared by central defender Silva, so he failed to pose a threat.
The Brazilian team took five shots in the first 20 minutes, an average of one shot every four minutes, which is quite terrifying.
Of the five shots, two hit the goal frame. If it weren't for their bad luck, the Brazilian team would have scored a goal and taken the lead.
As the captain, Lu Wenbin felt a lot of pressure. He kept retreating and running back and forth to participate in defense, using his fairly good positioning and full defensive skills to help the team defend the goal.
However, Lu Wenbin's defense was not included in the team's training and game plans.
His usual defense is just interference and delaying defense in the frontcourt, as long as he can slow down the opponent's attack speed, instead of participating in defense in the backcourt as a midfielder or even a defender.
Now Lu Wenbin retreated deeper than usual, which in turn affected the coordination between the Chinese team's defenders and defensive midfielders.
Because Lu Wenbin did not form a long-term tacit understanding with his teammates in the backcourt on defense.
In the 23rd minute, when Lu Wenbin once again fell to the ground and tackled the ball away from Alex's feet near the corner of the penalty area, disrupting the opponent's flank attack, Lu Wenbin was called to the sidelines by head coach Blazevic.
Blazevic nervously pressed Lu Wenbin's shoulder and said, "Lu Wenbin, you are too far back. You are an attacking midfielder, not a defensive midfielder. Your position is too far back, which not only prevents us from counterattacking, but also affects the defensive coordination between our defensive midfielders and defenders. You need to move forward a little, just make some interference in the midfield, and also allow our back line to have a place to pass the ball after grabbing the ball. Your main responsibility is to score goals, not to defend."
Blazevic's nervousness is understandable because he is afraid that Lu Wenbin will act like a big shot and not understand his tactical instructions.
If Lu Wenbin insisted on his own way, he would have no way to deal with it.
Replace Lu Wenbin? It would be better to just surrender and admit defeat.
Besides, he wouldn't dare.
If he dares to replace Lu Wenbin now, he will be fired as soon as the game is over, regardless of whether the Chinese team wins or loses.
Fortunately, Lu Wenbin is not the arrogant person who refuses to listen to advice.
After a brief recollection, Lu Wenbin realized his mistake and that the coach was right.
Although he has very good defensive skills, retreating deeper can indeed provide greater help to the Chinese team's defense. The fact that Brazil was not allowed to score in the past 20 minutes is proof of this.
But his interference with the back line was real. The two offset each other. In fact, he did not bring much improvement to the defensive strength of the Chinese team's back line, and there was a lot of luck involved in not conceding a goal.
On the contrary, because of his excessive retreat, the Chinese team's counterattack was almost completely scrapped, which was not worth the loss.
Therefore, Lu Wenbin nodded firmly and said, "I understand, coach, I'll listen to you!"
Blazevic happily patted Lu Wenbin on the shoulder, pushed him onto the court and continued the game.
After the game resumed, Lu Wenbin did not retreat to the restricted area line, or even go into the restricted area.
In this way, although the strength of the defense has decreased a bit, it has not decreased too much because of the tacit cooperation between the defense line in training and competitions.
The midfield attack became much more powerful due to the presence of Lu Wenbin.
In the 29th minute, Zhang Linpeng risked injury and grabbed the first point in a header battle with Oscar, and headed the ball to Lu Wenbin.
Zhang Linpeng was then knocked to the ground by Oscar, but the referee did not stop the game because the ball fell to Lu Wenbin's feet and the Chinese team began to counterattack.
Based on the principle of offensive advantage, the referee followed Lu Wenbin and rushed to the Brazilian team's half.
This time, Lu Wenbin was closer to the center line, with only a defensive midfielder Sandro beside him, and only two central defenders in the backcourt, and one of them had to defend Wu Lei.
This is the advantage of standing a little forward.
If he moves further back, even if Lu Wenbin gets the ball and counterattacks, he will have to face interception and timely defense by more opponent's midfielders and full-backs.
This is exactly why head coach Blazevic asked Lu Wenbin not to position too far back, just to preserve the possibility of counterattack.
Now, the opportunity has come.
Although Sandro got close to Lu Wenbin the moment he received Zhang Linpeng's header, Lu Wenbin's dribbling skills, speed and physique were too good, so Sandro could not find a chance to intercept the ball and could only entangle Lu Wenbin to try to slow down his attack speed.
But the opposite happened. Although Lu Wenbin's speed was a little slower, it was not slow enough for other Brazilian players to rush back and participate in the defense.
While Lu Wenbin and Sandro were entangled and moving forward, Wu Lei followed up 20 meters away, engaging the defense of central defender Juan.
There was only one Silva in front of Lu Wenbin, who was retreating and defending, ready to seize the opportunity to intercept Lu Wenbin's ball together with Sandro.
As the distance got closer, just when Lu Wenbin was about to reach the restricted area, Silva, who was slowly retreating, suddenly stopped and rushed forward, making a diving tackle.
As they were about to enter the restricted area, Silva had to make this move outside the restricted area: the risk inside the restricted area was too great.
Even if he fails in the tackle, there is still Sandro to keep him company, so Lu Wenbin will not be left completely unguarded.
Sandro next to him also increased his pulling and pushing movements at the right time, trying to make Lu Wenbin lose his balance and create an opportunity for Silva to steal the ball.
However, the experienced Lu Wenbin saw through their intention. He lifted the ball up the moment Silva suddenly fell to the ground, then leaped forward and stepped over the fallen Silva.
Although he staggered a little when landing because of Sandro's push, he successfully broke through Silva's interception. Sandro was also temporarily thrown away by Lu Wenbin because of Silva's interference.
Lu Wenbin staggered to catch up with the falling ball, and before the goalkeeper Gabriel could attack, he poked the ball and kicked it past Gabriel's crotch.
Gabriel squeezed his legs together and touched the ball, but did not push it out of the goal frame.
Under the desperate gazes of countless Brazilians, the ball passed through Gabriel's crotch, changed direction slightly and rolled into the goal.
Lu Wenbin finally scored a counterattack goal and the Chinese team took the lead 1-0.
In the commentary booth, countless Chinese and foreign commentators suddenly shouted:
“Goooooooooooooooooooooal…”
"The ball goes in, a counterattack from superstar Lu!"
"The Brazilian team bombarded the Chinese team for 30 minutes, but it was Lu who scored the first goal!"
"Lu defeated the Brazilian team alone!"