In the semi-final against Brazil, Lu Wenbin had no assists, no goals, the team did not win, and did not make it to the final.
Therefore, after the competition, Lu Wenbin did not gain any experience at all, let alone entering the finals and winning the championship mission reward.
Before the game started, Lu Wenbin still fantasized about winning the game, advancing to the finals, obtaining mission rewards, and upgrading his free kick skills to the grandmaster level!
It seems that we will have to wait for the free kick upgrade.
After the game, because the Chinese team did not make it to the finals, Lu Wenbin was no longer qualified to compete for the championship.
Lu Wenbin's undefeated record of winning the championship as long as he participated in the competition throughout his entire career was finally broken at this year's Confederations Cup.
After the game, the global media reported that Lu Wenbin's Chinese team was eliminated in the semifinals. Of course, the point is that Lu Wenbin's record of winning the championship as long as he participated in the competition has come to an end.
"In the Confederations Cup semi-finals, the Chinese team lost 1-3 to the host Brazil, and Lu Wenbin's record of winning the championship as long as he participated in the competition ended!"
"The Chinese team is not strong enough, Lu Wenbin can't carry the team alone, and China has lost the opportunity to compete for the Confederations Cup championship!"
"Lu Wenbin finally didn't go as far as to fight against the entire Brazilian team alone."
The defeat of the Chinese team also put to rest the minds of many people who were skeptical and surprised at Lu Wenbin's abnormality.
With the strength of the current players of the Chinese team, it would be abnormal to defeat the Brazilian team even if led by Lu Wenbin.
After losing to the Brazilian team, Lu Wenbin's record of winning every competition came to an end, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
The next day, June 28, Spain defeated Italy 7-6 in a penalty shootout and will compete with Brazil for the championship trophy of this Confederations Cup.
Although they lost in the semi-finals, the Chinese team could not just go home because they still had to participate in the third and fourth place finals.
The third and fourth place playoffs will be held on June 30th and the final will be held on July 1st.
One thing that is more favorable to China is that the Chinese team's semi-final will be played on June 27, while Italy's semi-final will be played on June 28.
The Chinese team had one more day of rest than the Italian team, while Italy had to play in the third and fourth place final after only one day of rest.
Moreover, in terms of mentality, the Chinese team will definitely try their best even if it is a third or fourth place final.
For China, third place and fourth place are completely different concepts.
In the history of world competitions, South Korea once achieved fourth place in the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup with the help of referees and the advantage of playing at home.
This is the best result of Asian football (men's football) in the world championships. No matter whether you agree or not, despise it or not, it is the result.
Although the Confederations Cup is not as authoritative and popular as the World Cup, it is indeed a top world competition.
If the Chinese team can get third place, they will be able to surpass South Korea's best result in the World Series and create a new height for Asian teams in the World Series.
Therefore, the Chinese team will treat this third and fourth place final as the final.
But for Italy, the importance is different.
As the team with the second most World Cup titles, Italy's goal in participating in the Confederations Cup is naturally to win the championship.
Now that they have lost in the semi-finals and have not made it to the finals, they cannot compete for the championship. Even if they cannot succeed, the players naturally have no interest in competing for third place.
Even when they played, their level of attention to the game was far from that of the Chinese team.
In terms of physical fitness and competitive mentality, Italy cannot be compared with China.
The only thing that may be stronger than the Chinese team is their technical and tactical strength, but their physical fitness and competitive mentality will definitely affect their on-the-spot performance.
Under such circumstances, it is entirely possible for the Chinese team to beat Italy unexpectedly and take the third place. No matter how small the probability is, there is always a certain chance.
On June 30, the Estadio Fonte Nova in El Salvador was packed, with the vast majority of seats occupied by Chinese fans and overseas Chinese.
They were able to qualify from the Confederations Cup group stage. Although they were eliminated in the semi-finals and failed to reach the final, they still aroused the enthusiasm of countless domestic fans to watch the game.
A lot of people came from the country at short notice, just in time to catch the third and fourth place finals.
Anyway, no one from the Italian team to the fans was interested in the third and fourth place match, which just happened to allow most fans to buy tickets and enter the stadium to cheer for the Chinese national team.
The Xinshuiyuan Stadium, which can accommodate more than 50,000 spectators, had nearly 40,000 fans of the Chinese team, and the whole stadium was red.
Chinese fans have turned the Xinshuiyuan Stadium into their home ground. There are only a few thousand Italian fans, and the rest are local citizens and fans from other places who have come to see Lu Wenbin.
At 16:00 local time, with the referee's whistle, the 2013 Confederations Cup third and fourth place final between China and Italy officially kicked off.
The Chinese team's formation is 4231, with the starting lineup including goalkeeper Zeng Cheng, defenders Rong Hao, Feng Xiaoting, Zhao Peng, Zhang Linpeng, midfielders Lu Wenbin, Wang Yongpo, midfielders Yu Hai, Hao Junmin, attacking midfielder Deng Zhuoxiang, and forward Wu Lei.
Italy's formation is 433, with Buffon as the starting goalkeeper, Maggio, Astori, Chiellini and De Sciglio as defenders, Candreva, De Rossi and Montolivo as midfielders, and El Shaarawy, Gilardino and Diamanti as forwards.
Several main players of the Italian team, including Barzagli, Bonucci, Pirlo, Balotelli and others, did not play despite being healthy or injured. From the appearance list, it can be seen that the Italian team is absent-minded.
After the start of the game, Italy did not shrink its defense, ignoring their defensive advantage, and directly used the kick-off right to launch an attack on the Chinese team.
However, before reaching the Chinese team's penalty area, De Rossi's through ball to Gilardino was intercepted by Lu Wenbin.
De Rossi underestimated Lu Wenbin's defensive positioning ability.
After all, De Rossi had only watched game videos or post-match news reports before, so he had not had a face-to-face and intuitive experience of Lu Wenbin's defensive ability.
Now, he felt it.
However, De Rossi didn't care, and the Italian team didn't care too much either.
Lu Wenbin's all-around ability in offense and defense is well known, and it's not something that just popped up today. Since Lu Wenbin is so good, just avoid him when you pass the ball.
In the minds of the entire Italian team, they did not think that the Chinese team could cause them any trouble. After all, they lost to Spain in a penalty shootout, and Spain beat the Chinese team 4-1.
Although the third and fourth place finals are not taken very seriously, it does not mean that the Italians want to give up the third place.
They rotated the starting lineup, set up a fierce attack from the start, etc., all out of contempt for the Chinese team and thinking that they could easily beat the Chinese team.