One stray kick
致命一脚
On Friday, 7 June, 2002, I stood on the pitch in Japan, waiting to take a penalty kick for England against Argentina. It was our second game of the World Cup finals and the toughest match of the group. A win would help ensure that we made it to the next round. It would also go a long way towards erasing four years' worth of bad memories.
2002年6月7日,星期五,我站在日本的球场上,等着在英格兰对阿根廷的比赛中罚点球。这是我们在世界杯决赛的第二场比赛,也是小组中最艰难的一场比赛。这场比赛的胜利将有助于我们进入下一轮比赛。这也将大大有助于消除4年前糟糕的回忆。
I was lucky to be there at all - less than two months ago, I'd broken a bone in my foot. But I'd worked incredibly hard to recover and now here I was, England's captain, about to take a shot that could win us the game. As I tried to focus, the Argentine captain, Diego Simeone, came walking towards me and held his hand out to shake. In an instant, my mind returned to a night four years earlier, when the same player helped get me kicked out of the previous World Cup in France.
我很幸运能站在那里——不到两个月前,我的脚骨折了。但我付出了巨大的努力来恢复,现在,我,英格兰队的队长,即将出手,为我们队赢得比赛。当我试图集中注意力时,阿根廷队长迭戈·西蒙尼朝我走来,伸出手来和我握手。转眼间,我的记忆又回到了4年前的那个晚上,也是这个球员帮我踢出了上一届法国世界杯。
Although I didn't have the best of starts at the 1998 World Cup, I'd scored my first-ever goal for England in the following match, so I was feeling confident when we faced Argentina. It was a huge game. Our rivalry is one of the oldest in football, and once I found out I'd been starting I couldn't wait for the game to begin.
虽然我在1998年世界杯上没有最好的开局,但在接下来的比赛中我为英格兰打进了我有史以来的第一个进球,所以当我们面对阿根廷时,我感到很自信。这是一场重要的比赛。我们之间的对抗是足球史上最古老的对抗之一,一旦我发现我一直在首发,我就迫不及待地等待比赛开始。
The first 45 minutes flew by, with goals at either end. Though the score was tied 2-2, we felt we were good enough to win.
前45分钟飞逝,两头各有进球。虽然比分是2比2平,但我们觉得我们足够优秀去赢得比赛。