Chapter 702: Defending the Asian Cup

After playing the 19th round of the league, Lu Wenbin did not return to China immediately.

The tradition in the Premier League is that when others are resting, they have to play as best they can, and arrange more exciting games for the fans during the holidays.

Therefore, on New Year's Day in 2015, the Premier League had a game, and it was a full eight games at the same time, only two games were staggered, but they were not staggered, anyway, they all had to be played on New Year's Day, as a New Year's gift to British fans.

The start of the Asian Cup in Australia is January 9, and according to the communication between Leicester City and the Chinese Football Association, Lu Wenbin decided to go back after playing the 20th round of the league on New Year's Day.

But when the time comes, there is no need to go back to China and go with the national team, but fly directly to Australia and join the national team.

The Premier League's schedule is not symmetrical, with opponents in the first round of the first half of the season and opponents in the first round of the second half of the season swapping home and away matches, but diverging.

Coincidentally, Leicester City's opponent on the first day of the 2015 New Year was Liverpool, the only one Leicester City had lost in the first half of the season, and Lu Wenbin could lead the team to take revenge.

After 90 minutes of fierce battle, Leicester City won 3-2 away at Liverpool under the leadership of Lu Wenbin and captured the famous Anfield Stadium, despite the absence of two key players due to injury.

When Lu Wenbin used the last free-kick opportunity to beat the Reds in the 92nd minute, the whole Anfield was silent, and the die-hard Reds fans in the KOP stands couldn't believe their eyes.

The entire stadium was filled with only the meagre cheers of thousands of Foxes fans.

But these pitiful Blue Foxes fans witnessed the team's revenge on Liverpool.

After this game, Lu Wenbin had to say goodbye to his teammates and coaches and flew to Australia to participate in the 2015 Asian Cup.

On January 4, 2015, Lu Wenbin arrived in Canberra, Australia, to meet with the Chinese men's national team to prepare for the first group game.

The Chinese team is the champion of the last Asian Cup, and won the third place in the Confederations Cup and the third place in the World Cup.

In the end, Lu Wenbin was in a group with Uzbekistan in the second pot, Saudi Arabia in the third pot, and North Korea in the fourth pot.

No matter how you look at it, the Chinese team with Lu Wenbin is the first favorite to qualify.

On January 10, the first round of Group B Uzbekistan vs North Korea was played first, and in the end, Uzbekistan won 1-0 against North Korea.

Then, the second match of the first round of Group B, China VS Saudi Arabia, was played at the Canberra Stadium.

Just 45 minutes later, Lu Wenbin had already given China a 3-0 lead with two goals and an assist.

In the second half, Lu Wenbin scored another goal in the 61st minute to complete a hat-trick and lead the Chinese team to a 4-0 lead over Saudi Arabia.

Then Gao Hongbo replaced Lu Wenbin to save Lu Wenbin's physical energy.

With the win assured, Gao Hongbo will give Lu Wenbin more time to rest and facilitate Lu Wenbin's return to Leicester City to catch up on the points he lost during the Asian Cup.

After Lu Wenbin went off the field, the Chinese team focused on defense, and although Saudi Arabia tried their best to attack and score a face-saving goal, they were ultimately unable to do so.

After the experience of the Confederations Cup and the World Cup, even without Lu Wenbin, the strength of the Chinese team has improved a lot compared to before, and it successfully kept a clean sheet against the opponent with full defense.

The Chinese team won the first game with a 4-0 victory.

On January 14, in the second group stage, the Chinese team won 3-0 Uzbekistan and won all two games to accumulate 6 points and qualified ahead of schedule.

After playing the second group game, Lu Wenbin flew back to Europe and received the 2014 FIFA Ballon d'Or in Switzerland, becoming the first footballer to win five Ballon d'Or awards, or even five consecutive Ballon d'Or.

On January 18, in the third group game, the Chinese team did not even send Lu Wenbin, but rotated many substitutes.

Even so, the Chinese team still defeated North Korea with a score of 2-0, winning all three games, scoring 9 goals and conceding 0 goals to enter the quarterfinals, and Uzbekistan qualified as the second in the group.

On January 22, in the first quarterfinals, South Korea, the first in Group A, defeated Uzbekistan, the second in Group B, 2-0 and entered the semifinals.

Later on the same day, the second quarter-final was played, with Australia, the second and host in Group A, facing the first Chinese team in Group B.

Although Australia, playing at home, scored two goals in the cheers of the home fans, breaking the record of zero goals conceded by the Chinese team in the group stage.

But the Chinese team, led by Lu Wenbin, went all out to pour 4 goals into Australia.

In the end, the Chinese team won 4-2 against Australia and entered the semifinals.

The last two quarter-finals were all penalty shootouts, and the final result was that Iraq beat Iran on penalties and the United Arab Emirates beat Japan on penalties to enter the semi-finals.

On January 26, the first semi-final was played, and South Korea defeated Iraq 2-0 to reach the final.

The next day, January 27, in the second semi-final, the Chinese team faced the United Arab Emirates.

After 90 minutes, the score on the big screen was 4-1, and the Chinese team defeated the United Arab Emirates to enter the final and compete with the South Korean team for the championship.

On January 31, at the Australian Stadium in Sydney, the 2015 Asian Cup final between China and South Korea was held as scheduled.

Before Lu Wenbin's appearance, the Chinese team had not defeated South Korea for 30 years, and Koreanphobia was regarded as a great shame by the Chinese.

In addition, Koreans robbed the Dragon Boat Festival, grabbed Confucius, robbed Qu Yuan, grabbed the birthplace of traditional Chinese medicine, etc., so that the hatred of Chinese for South Korea is no less than that of Japan.

Therefore, Lu Wenbin did not stay at all in this game, even if he was ahead by a big score, Gao Hongbo did not replace Lu Wenbin.

Lu Wenbin played the whole game.

As a result, the score on the big screen in the end was a dazzling 6-0, Lu Wenbin staged a senior and assisted Wu Lei to score a goal, and Deng Zhuoxiang, who came on as a substitute, scored the last goal.

The Chinese team defeated South Korea by 6 goals, stabbing South Korean players and fans in the heart six times. At the end of the game, many players of the South Korean team collapsed and fell to the ground.

What used to be the Korean phobia of the Chinese team is now going to become the Sinophobia of the Koreans.

The Chinese team successfully defended the Asian Cup championship, becoming the fifth team to defend the Asian Cup championship after South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Japan.

The next goal is to win the Asian Cup three times in a row.

In history, only the Iranian team has achieved three consecutive Asian Cup championships, and Lu Wenbin wants to lead the Chinese team to equal this record, and then surpass it.

With Lu Wenbin's age, he can play two more Asian Cups, and this goal is not unachievable.