Seven-time champion

Chapter 43: Positional Battle After the match on the morning of July 21st, Lu Wenbin’s name had spread throughout all the teams in this tournament. In particular, the teams in Group B that had yet to face Meijiang Middle School began to take Lu Wenbin even more seriously and started strategizing on how to counter him. Facing such a prolific striker, no opponent could help but feel nervous and take him seriously. The tactic Meijiang Middle School used in the first match—exploiting their opponents’ unfamiliarity with Lu Wenbin’s abilities to launch a surprise attack—would no longer work. In the afternoon, the second match of the first round in Group B took place at the Guizhou Normal University soccer field: Anshun No. 3 Middle School vs. Bijie Vocational High School. After 90 minutes, the match ended in a 1-1 draw, with neither side emerging victorious. This result meant that Meijiang Middle School, having secured a win, reaped the benefits. At the end of the first day’s matches, Meijiang Middle School topped Group B with 3 points, having scored 4 goals and conceded 1 (a goal difference of +3). Anshun No. 3 Middle School and Bijie Vocational High School were tied for second and third place with 1 point each and a goal difference of 0. Xingyi No. 1 Middle School, having had a bye, was in fourth place with 0 points, while Shuigang No. 2 Middle School was in fifth place with 0 points and a goal difference of -3. On the morning of the second day, July 22, Xingyi No. 1 High School—which had a bye the previous day—faced Shuigang No. 2 High School. Shuigang No. 2 High School, which had lost to Meijiang High School the previous day and was at the bottom of the standings, launched a relentless offensive but was unable to breach Xingyi No. 1 High School’s defense. During the match, Xingyi No. 1 High School’s goalkeeper Wu Sihuo made numerous saves, thwarting nearly 10 shots on target by Shuigang No. 2 High School and keeping a clean sheet. In the end, thanks to the goalkeeper’s outstanding performance and a counterattack goal, Xingyi No. 1 High School defeated Shuigang No. 2 High School 1-0 in their first match, earning 3 points. In the afternoon, Meijiang Middle School faced Anshun No. 3 Middle School, while Bijie Vocational High School had a bye today. At 3:00 PM on July 22, the referee blew the whistle to signal the start of the match. For this match, Anshun No. 3 High School learned from Shuigang No. 2 High School’s experience of having their defense torn apart by Lu Wenbin and adopted a relatively conservative 5-3-2 defensive formation, almost identical to Meijiang High School’s setup. Both teams played a defensive counterattacking style, which naturally made for an unattractive game with very few goals. Although Lu Wenbin had several scoring opportunities, with so many opponents closing in and disrupting him in the backfield, only two of his shots were on target, and both were saved by the opposing goalkeeper. The first half ended in a scoreless 0-0 draw. During halftime, Lu Wenbin realized that it would be a shame not to make use of his 11/11 vision and 12/13 passing stats. Although scoring goals would earn him more experience, Lu Wenbin wanted victory and the championship more than anything—he wanted to qualify for the national finals. As long as the team could make it to the national finals, it didn’t matter whether he scored or not. Therefore, Lu Wenbin suggested to Coach Zhang that the entire team push forward in the second half, play a positional game, and test the team’s ability to break down a defense. Otherwise, if both sides continued to play defensive counterattacks like in the first half, and his teammates didn’t come up to support him, he would essentially be facing seven or eight opponents in their backfield alone—and scoring a goal would truly come down to luck. Someone had to come up to support Lu Wenbin. After giving it some thought, Zhang Minghai agreed with Lu Wenbin’s suggestion. Then, Meijiang Middle School made the first substitution, bringing on a midfielder for a defender and switching to a 4-4-2 formation to launch a full-scale offensive. Meanwhile, Anshun No. 3 Middle School was still very pleased with their success in shutting out Lu Wenbin in the first half. They decided to stick with their first-half tactics, hoping to build on their clean sheet against Lu Wenbin and see if they could score a goal on the counterattack in the second half. Even if they couldn’t score, a 0-0 draw with Meijiang Middle School would be acceptable. After all, the group stage isn’t decided by a single match. Even with two consecutive draws, there would still be opportunities later on. But if they lost, their chances of advancing would be slim. So, in the second half, Anshun No. 3 Middle School made no adjustments and continued their 5-3-2 defensive counter-attacking strategy. Meijiang Middle School, on the other hand, began pushing forward aggressively to support Lu Wenbin in a positional battle. After adjusting their tactics, everyone was surprised to discover that Lu Wenbin’s passing and playmaking skills were actually this outstanding. In previous matches, Lu Wenbin was primarily responsible for dribbling and shooting in the attacking third; when he occasionally passed the ball, no one paid it much mind. However, this hard-fought match caused Meijiang Middle School’s coaches and teammates to change their perception of Lu Wenbin. It turned out that Lu Wenbin was not just a striker; he was an all-around talent in the attacking third. Under Anshun No. 3 High School’s 5-3-2 defensive formation, their half of the field was absolutely packed with players. Most amateur high school players would be completely helpless in this situation—just as Meijiang High School finds it difficult to score when they use this formation against others. Even if a goal is occasionally scored, it’s mostly down to luck. But from Lu Wenbin’s perspective on November 11th, while it wasn’t exactly riddled with holes, Anshun No. 3 High School’s defensive positioning—which fell short of professional standards—was certainly not as watertight as others perceived it to be. Combined with Lu Wenbin’s own ability to break through and shake off defenders, once he drew the attention of two or three opposing players, even more gaps and openings appeared elsewhere. After three consecutive good passes were squandered by his teammates, in the 75th minute, Lu Wenbin finally delivered a beautiful lob pass to beat a defender, and Han Dapeng headed the ball straight into the net from inside the six-yard box. Meijiang Middle School finally took the lead in the 75th minute, thanks to a pinpoint assist from Lu Wenbin. Once the deadlock was broken, Anshun No. 3 Middle School could no longer hold their defense. Trailing by a goal, there was little point in continuing to defend. Anshun No. 3 Middle School had to go on the offensive, doing their best to equalize or turn the game around. Otherwise, having drawn their first match, another loss here would put their chances of advancing from the group in serious jeopardy. On the other side, Meijiang Middle School naturally dropped back immediately after scoring, reverting to their familiar counterattacking style. After all, now that they were in the lead, playing on the counterattack felt entirely justified and came naturally to them. Thus, after the 75th minute of the second half, the roles of both teams were reversed: Anshun No. 3 Middle School pushed forward aggressively, engaging in a positional battle against Meijiang Middle School. Meijiang Middle School, meanwhile, had virtually the entire team retreating to defend, with only Lu Wenbin holding the line up front to lead the counterattacks, and Han Dapeng occasionally running up to provide support. However, Anshun No. 3 Middle School lacked a dribbler like Lu Wenbin, as well as his vision and ability to organize the passing game. Faced with Meijiang Middle School’s stubborn defensive counterattacks, they had no effective way to break through. In contrast, for Meijiang Middle School, whenever Lu Wenbin got the ball, he almost always created a threat.