Data map: In the top 12 Asian World Preliminaries that ended in the early morning of November 17, Beijing time, the Chinese men's football team drew 1:1 with Australia. After this battle, the national football team had 6 matches, 1 win, 2 draws and 3 losses, accumulating 5 points. Hope to survive the preliminaries.

The picture shows Wu Lei scoring an equalizer penalty.

　　Today, Wu Lei celebrated his 30th birthday.

When a person reaches thirty, it is often said that the year has come.

In the eyes of many people, the 30-year-old should establish a career, a career, and a family.

And this age is also the ladder for ordinary people to reach maturity.

　　For professional athletes, thirty years old is often a watershed in sports career.

But there are always some young hearts that will not grow old easily, and there are always some stubborn souls who are unwilling to give in.

　　After the end of this stage of the top 12 with the national football team, Wu Lei has returned to Spain to continue his difficult and bumpy journey abroad.

Since the Spaniard returned to La Liga, Wu Lei's scoring drought has continued. It has been more than 500 days since he scored for the team last time.

The bitterness of this can only be experienced by him.

　　The consequence of not scoring is that Wu Lei gradually lost his starting position and the trust of the head coach.

In La Liga, the top football league in the world, Wu Lei's presence is obviously not high.

However, Wu Lei is an indispensable existence for Chinese football, which is advancing through difficulties.

Data map: At 23:00 on November 11th, Beijing time, the fifth round of the World Preliminary Asian Top 12 Group B, in the first half, Chinese team player Wu Lei opened the scoring.

The picture shows Wu Lei's first record.

　　In the top 12 of the six-round preliminaries that have ended, Wu Lei scored 4 goals and changed the situation on the field many times in critical moments.

But football is a team sport. With Wu Lei alone, the probability of qualifying for the national football team is still very slim.

　　On the plane to Barcelona, ​​Wu Lei also wrote down his thoughts and feelings about football on the occasion of his 30th birthday.

Data map: Wu Lei celebrated the goal in the game.

　　He said: "Just when the plane climbed, I suddenly thought, if the goal is clear, the direction is precise, and you won't get lost, it would be great if you play football like an airplane flight."

　　Unfortunately, everything he hopes seems to be what Chinese football lacks.

In the difficult moments of Chinese football, Wu Lei's thinking has exceeded the scope of players.

　　Growing up in Shanghai Genbao Base, he was instilled with the responsibility and mission of Chinese footballers since he was a child.

Since the day he set foot on the professional arena, Wu Lei has never forgotten his original intention.

　　From the Chinese Premier League to the Chinese Super League, and then to the center of the world football arena, he worked step by step towards his small goal.

While improving oneself, I also hope that the world will see the figure of Chinese football.

However, Wu Lei, who is not a young football player, has an uneven road ahead of his "study abroad" career.

　　In fact, it is not just Wu Lei. For the national football team whose average age is now close to 30 years old, if there are no more outstanding new-generation players in recent years, then waiting for them is likely to be another chilling journey. .

　　Jiu Jianying, 20 years old; Li Gangren, 20 years old...Compared with the emerging talents of Japan and South Korea, so far, we have not seen too many promising Chinese football stars.

And this is what makes people feel the most powerless.

Data map: In the final round of the World Preliminary 40 at 2:00 AM on June 16th, Beijing time, with Wu Lei's one pass and one shot and Zhang Xizhe and Zhang Yuning's goals, the national football team defeated Syria 3-1 and succeeded. Advance to the top 12 stage.

The picture shows Wu Lei celebrating his goal.

　　Throughout the international competitions of the past few years, the national football team will incur ugly abuse and ridicule every time they play.

Winning and losing, sometimes at the top of the mountain, sometimes at the bottom of the valley, audiences, coaches, players, media... everyone seems to be trapped by the noise and noise, emotionally seeking the way out of Chinese football that they think.

　　However, meaningless emotional output comes easily and goes faster.

　　This is like in our daily life, in the face of reprimands and criticisms, in the face of setbacks and gaps, some people choose to give up a hundred, while some people dry their tears and continue desperately.

Until I don't know how many attempts, I finally found a method that suits me and caught up.

And this kind of transformation is often silent, inconspicuous, and neglected.

Surprised bystanders often attribute it to "open the eye."

Data map: In the Group A match of the Asian Forty World Cup qualifiers that ended in the early morning of June 8th, Beijing time, with Wu Lei and Wu Xinghan's goals, the Chinese team defeated the Philippines 2-0.

The picture shows Wu Lei cheering after hitting a penalty kick.

Image source: Visual China

　　When the national football team can "open up", we do not yet know.

But at least in Wu Lei's mind, the goal has always been there, and the direction of struggle has already been chosen.

As he matures day by day, he is not afraid of any slander and misunderstanding. He will use his actions and achievements to find the light for the football career he loves.

　　As he himself said: "In the past few years, I have deliberately stayed away from some things that make my mind noisy. I self-examined that since I have achieved many goals, then the path I chose is not wrong, the direction is right, and the path is right. The hard work is worth it. Maybe when I was young, I would still reason with others. Now I just want to close my mouth to persuade others to explain the problem with actions and results."

　　After personally experiencing all aspects of foreign football systems, club operations, football atmosphere and mass participation, Wu Lei understood that his football career does not stop at players.

The future of the national football team cannot be changed by a single player. This arduous task requires the efforts of many people.

At 23:00 on November 11, Beijing time, in the fifth round of Group B of the World Preliminary Asian Top 12, the Chinese team player Wu Lei opened the scoring in the first half, and the Oman team equalized the score in the second half.

In the end, the national football was tied 1-1 by Oman.

The picture shows the Chinese fans present to cheer for the national football team.

　　The bits and pieces that Wu Lei has seen and felt over the years may bring a refreshing breeze to the quiet Chinese football and encourage more and more players to go abroad and make a breakthrough.

From this perspective, the burden on Wu Lei's shoulders at 30 has not decreased but increased, and he still has too much to do.

　　"Perhaps I used to be too optimistic about the development of the Chinese football industry until I saw a top-down football system, club operations, football atmosphere, ordinary people’s love for football, etc. abroad. The harvest is all-round, but The mood is more complicated, and we still have a long way to go." Wu Lei said.

　　At the 30-year-old intersection, Wu Lei made his birthday wish, which is also his goal in the future: "We must let Chinese football integrate into the world!"

　　The three stones are "Lei", and all will come together. Only with more "stones of jade", the more the better, can Chinese football go further and further.

On this special day, we wish Wu Lei, who was standing at the 30th birthday, a happy birthday, and we also wish that Chinese football will have more "Wu Lei" in the future and be able to "stand up" one day earlier.

(Reporter Xing Rui)