Wu Lei (1979-), Chinese footballer
, a name that is undoubtedly a bone of contention in soccer, with a level of controversy that seems to outweigh his performance on the field.
In China's soccer landscape, many fans' expectations of Wu Lei do not seem to match his actual performance, and some even believe that his strength is not commensurate with his fame, and that the level of his playing is gradually declining. However, some authorities in the soccer world, such as Chen Xuyuan, Xu Genbao, Li Tie, etc., firmly believe that Wu Lei will have a qualitative leap after staying in the ocean.
It is true that Wu Lei's performance in the first and second rounds of the 40-team tournament has undoubtedly verified the judgment of these experts.
In the first round of the 40-team tournament, Wu Lei returned to the country to participate in the tournament, it was the moment when he first stepped on the field of Spain, and the dominance he showed made the domestic fans full of expectations, hoping to see him shine in the game. However, the result was disappointing, the national football team not only drew with the Philippines, but also lost to Syria, and the one who scored the most goals was not Wu Lei, but Yang Xu.
And in the second round of the Top 40, Wu Lei returned to the team again, at this time he was in the middle of Spain's plight, many Chinese players do not have much hope for him to score. However, the national football team replaced Yang Xu and added a few naturalized players, Wu Lei unexpectedly performed well, and his performance was on par with Yang Xu. (See article on whether Wu Lei is close to Yang Xu's level, not because of the results of staying abroad, but because of the help of someone high up)
It is obvious that Wu Lei has improved significantly since he stayed in the ocean.
However, Wu Lei's performance in Spain has encountered a problem, he went from a starter to a substitute, is this the coach's suppression or other reasons? This is afraid that only the Spanish coach himself can explain, because even on the bench, Wu Lei also missed a lot of opportunities to play, his performance failed to prove that he has the ability to serve as a starter. (See the article Spaniards Chinese boss questioned! Wu Lei statement, the Western media criticized the Chinese superstar: the decline is obvious)
Obviously, Wu Lei's road to stay in the ocean is full of compromises, unless the national football team is willing to make greater compromises in order to prove Wu Lei's progress.
But then again, the significance of Wu Lei's stay in Spain is not only as one-sided as the Spanish media understands it to be! Although it may be difficult to prove himself in Spain as the coaching choices don't seem to be in his favor, it's good to know that the attention of the Premier League has given Wu Lei new hope and he may just have to prove his worth by making the most of the Premier League stage.
