In addition to the excited Chinese media and fans, this China-Japan matchup is also quite attractive to media from other Asian countries and the world.
Because if the Chinese team really defeats Japan and advances in advance, they will become the first team other than host Brazil to qualify from the qualifiers, and the second place among the 32 teams in the Brazil World Cup, which is quite worth reporting.
However, before the game, Lu Wenbin first paid attention to the UEFA Champions League quarter-final draw.
After all the 1/8 finals are over, the teams that advanced to the quarterfinals of this season's Champions League are Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Dortmund, Malaga and Galatasaray.
Based on the principle that teams from the same country do not meet and teams in the group stage do not meet, Real Madrid's opponents can only be chosen from Bayern Munich, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and Galatasaray.
As a result, the team drawn in the end was Galatasaray.
As soon as the draw results came out, there was an uproar at the scene.
This is simply sending Real Madrid into the semi-finals!
Does UEFA think Real Madrid is not strong enough and want to give them a guaranteed promotion
Could it be that European Football Association wants to create the first team that can successfully defend the title after the Champions League reform to create a news gimmick
However, when the media raised questions, UEFA naturally denied it, claiming that UEFA's draws are open and transparent, and that Real Madrid drew Galatasaray just because they were lucky and Galatasaray was unlucky.
As to whether it is truly open and transparent, or whether it really depends entirely on luck, no one knows the truth.
So far, all speculation remains just speculation, and no senior UEFA official has come forward to confirm that the draw was manipulated.
Anyway, the quarter-finals will be easy for Real Madrid and they will definitely advance to the semi-finals.
The other three opponents are Barcelona vs. Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich vs. Juventus, and Malaga vs. Dortmund.
After the draw, all Lu Wenbin had to do was concentrate on training and prepare for the World Cup qualifiers.
On March 25, the Chinese team held a pre-match press conference one day in advance and announced the starting lineup.
The Chinese team's lineup has not changed much. The main players are still the same. Only two or three positions have been adjusted for various reasons, but the overall framework has not changed.
Everyone knows the Chinese team's tactics. The only reason they can't beat the Chinese team is that they lack Lu Wenbin.
On March 26, although the competition was held at night, vehicles were prohibited from passing around the Olympic Sports Center since the morning.
Countless fans get up early in the morning, have breakfast, and then head to the Olympic Sports Center. If they don’t go early, they may not be able to find a place to stand even in the open space outside the stadium.
This national team qualifier, which is related to qualifying for the top ten, is a huge test for the security, catering, transportation, etc. of the Tianjin Olympic Sports Center.
By the afternoon, the area outside the Olympic Sports Center was basically packed with people.
Fans, police, media reporters, snack stands, and people selling jerseys and souvenirs completely occupied the square and road outside the Olympic Sports Center.
Before the game even started, fans were already waving the five-star red flag and singing loudly to express their excitement.
In the eyes of countless fans, as long as Lu Wenbin is there, they don’t have to worry about whether they can beat Japan.
They just came to celebrate the Chinese team's second qualification for the World Cup qualifiers and entry into the World Cup finals.
Moreover, having made it to the World Cup finals this time, there is absolutely no way the Chinese team will be eliminated without scoring a single goal.
Lu Wenbin's set-piece (including free kicks, penalties, corner kicks) skills alone are enough to help the Chinese team score several goals in the three group matches.
CCTV reporters randomly interviewed several fans from other provinces and asked them if they thought the Chinese team could beat Japan today and advance to the next round. The leading fans looked at the reporter as if he was a fool and said:
"Is there any need to ask this? Are there any rivals for China in Asia? As long as Lu Wenbin is here, no team in Asia can be our rival. We came all the way from other provinces to Tianjin, and we don't have tickets yet. We can only watch the live broadcast on the big screen in the square. We are not here to win a game, but to qualify for the World Cup qualifiers."
Not only him and his companions, his words represent the thoughts of the vast majority of fans.
If they did not believe that Lu Wenbin could definitely lead the Chinese team to defeat Japan and advance to the next round in advance, many fans from other provinces would not have chased him to Tianjin so crazily.
Just like in the previous six rounds of World Cup qualifiers, there were not so many people, not even one-tenth.
At 17:30 in the afternoon, the stadium began checking tickets for admission two hours in advance. Fans without tickets could only watch with envy as fans with tickets checked in.
They could only watch the live broadcast on the big screen outside.
Fortunately, the weather was good and it didn’t rain, otherwise it would have been even more depressing.
Because it was a home game, the Chinese team's conditions were naturally much more convenient than those of the visiting team. They were able to arrive at the stadium early and began warming up an hour in advance.
When the Chinese team entered the stadium to warm up, some fans had already entered the stadium.
When they saw Lu Wenbin and other Chinese players appear on the court, many of them couldn't contain themselves and sang and cheered loudly for the Chinese team. It was not known whether they would be able to shout when the game started.
40 minutes before the game started, the visiting team Japan arrived and started to warm up.
Watching the Japanese team warming up, Lu Wenbin remembered what he had done in the Asian Cup and suddenly became interested in doing it again.
So, Lu Wenbin asked his teammates to help and place the warm-up footballs one by one on the penalty area line.
Seeing this, everyone knew that Lu Wenbin was going to perform the performance of hitting the goal post continuously again.
All the fans in the stadium were very excited, and even the Japanese players who were warming up were greatly affected.
After all ten balls were placed, Lu Wenbin began to kick them towards the goal one by one.
Sure enough, Lu Wenbin made ten consecutive shots and all ten balls hit the goal post. None of them scored, but none of them missed the goal frame.
Everyone knows that Lu Wenbin did it on purpose.
That’s not all. After demonstrating how he hit the goal post, Lu Wenbin took five more zero-degree corner kicks from both corner areas.
Five shots on each side, a total of ten zero-degree shots for both sides. With no goalkeeper guarding, Lu Wenbin scored eight out of ten shots, making the Japanese goalkeeper Kawashima Eiji on the opposite side turn pale, and the other players were also stunned.
This simply leaves no way for the opponent to survive!
Even a corner kick can become an opportunity for Lu Wenbin to shoot, it really makes people wonder how to defend.
Before the game even started, Lu Wenbin dealt a heavy psychological blow to the Japanese team with his technical performance.
Today's game is a must-win for all the players and coaches of the Chinese team, including Lu Wenbin.