荷蘭隊絕境逢生 墨西哥功敗垂成

FORTALEZA, Brazil — Mexico’s coach, Miguel Herrera, has become an icon during this World Cup for his impassioned exhortations in front of the team bench. Herrera has stomped and stamped, whirled and whipped, flailed and frothed over everything from referee decisions to near misses to, most notably, goals scored by his players.

巴西福塔雷薩——墨西哥隊教練米格爾·埃雷拉(Miguel Herrera)已成爲這屆世界盃上的偶像級人物，這源於他在替補席前的一次次激情釋放。從裁判的判罰到差之毫釐的射門，特別是本隊球員的得分，一切都能讓埃雷拉頓足捶胸、驟然狂奔、手舞足蹈、唾沫橫飛。

Among the countless Internet tributes to Herrera is one delightful concoction in which Herrera’s wild gesticulations result in a violent thunderstorm.

網上有不計其數的內容都在向埃雷拉致敬，其中的一個動圖很是討喜：埃雷拉狂野的手勢帶起了一陣瘋狂的雷暴。

Deep into stoppage time here on Sunday, though, Herrera finally stood still. At the far end of the field, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, a forward for the Netherlands, ran up and lashed a penalty kick into the net. As the Dutch bench erupted, Herrera only stared: His team had been just a few minutes from advancing to the quarterfinals. Instead, it is now going home, surely devastated, after a brutal 2-1 defeat. It is the sixth consecutive World Cup in which Mexico has been eliminated in the Round of 16.

不過，在週日比賽的補時階段，埃雷拉終於安靜了下來。在球場的一端，荷蘭前鋒克拉斯-揚·亨特拉爾(Klaas-Jan Huntelaar)主罰點球，罰球入網。荷蘭的替補席一片歡呼，埃雷拉只是怔怔地看着這一切：他的球隊只在幾分鐘之前還看似即將進入四分之一決賽。球隊現在只能回家了，在2比1的殘酷結果之後，這毫無疑問讓人難以承受。這是墨西哥隊連續第六次在世界盃16強階段被淘汰。

Not surprisingly, Herrera did not leave quietly. In his postgame news conference, he excoriated the referee of the match for awarding the decisive penalty after Arjen Robben dribbled into the area and went down under a challenge from Mexico’s captain, Rafael Márquez.

埃雷拉自然不會默默離開。在賽後的新聞發佈會上，他痛斥了裁判在阿爾揚·羅本(Arjen Robben)一次帶球進入禁區之後吹罰了點球。當時墨西哥隊隊長拉法埃爾·馬克斯(Rafael Márquez)試圖搶斷，羅本隨後倒地。

To Herrera — and, presumably, just about every Mexico fan at Estádio Castelão — Robben, who is known for embellishing, took a dive. The referee, Pedro Proença of Portugal, saw otherwise.

對於埃雷拉，或許還有卡斯特勞體育場(Estádio Castelão)的每一名墨西哥球迷來說，以動作誇張而聞名的羅本是在“假摔”。但葡萄牙裁判佩德羅·普羅恩薩(Pedro Proença)不這樣認爲。

“The penalty was an invented penalty,” Herrera said. “Today, it was the man with the whistle who eliminated us from the World Cup.”

“這次吹罰點球毫無依據，”埃雷拉說，“今天，是那個吹哨子的人害我們出了局。”

He added, “Out of four matches, we had three matches where the refereeing was disastrous.”

他接着說，“在我們參加的四場比賽中，有三場比賽的判罰都是災難性的。”

Herrera went on to question why the tournament committee had assigned Proença — who is so well regarded that he worked both the Champions League final and the European Championship final in 2012 — to the game at all. Portugal, Herrera said, is Proença’s homeland and is in the same confederation as the Netherlands.

埃雷拉隨後質疑，世界盃委員會爲何讓普羅恩薩擔任這場比賽的裁判。普羅恩薩有着很高的聲譽，2012年曾爲歐洲冠軍聯賽決賽和歐洲足球錦標賽決賽擔任裁判。埃雷拉說，葡萄牙是普羅恩薩的故鄉，而葡萄牙與荷蘭屬於同一個聯盟。

Herrera then called on FIFA, soccer’s governing body, not to assign any more games to Proença.

埃雷拉然後向足球運動的管理機構國際足聯(FIFA)做出呼籲，不要再讓普羅恩薩擔任任何比賽的裁判。

“We will leave tomorrow or the day after,” he said. “We believe the referee should be going home, too.”

“我們會在明天或後天離開，”他說，“我們認爲裁判也該回家。”

It was an extended bit of petulance from Herrera, who did concede that his players were to blame for allowing the Netherlands an opening in the first place. Through three full games and 88 minutes on Sunday, El Tri had allowed just one goal. But loose defending after a late corner kick allowed Wesley Sneijder the freedom to blast a 20-yard shot past Guillermo Ochoa that tied the game at 1-1.

埃雷拉的這些長篇大論相當任性。他也承認，讓荷蘭人有空子可鑽，本來也是自家球員們的錯。在整整三場小組賽中，以及週日這場比賽的前88分鐘，墨西哥只丟了一個球。但在臨近終場時的一個角球開出之後，鬆懈的防線給了韋斯利·斯內德(Wesley Sneijder)機會，他在20碼外抽射，皮球越過墨西哥門將吉列爾莫·奧喬亞(Guillermo Ochoa)，將比分扳成1-1平。

“The tension was unbelievable; I’ve never lived through anything like that,” Daley Blind, a Dutch defender, said. “We couldn’t find our men with our passes in the first half; we struggled to get to the ball. But we came back stronger in the second.”

“當時的緊張氣氛是難以想象的，”荷蘭的後衛戴利·布林德(Daley Blind)說。“上半場，我們的傳球找不到自己人，要拿球很困難。但是下半場我們的情況有所好轉。”

Sneijder’s blast was the catalyst, and it must have felt like a sucker punch, too, if only because Mexico had taken the lead in such dramatic fashion. Giovani dos Santos scored his first international goal in two years with a wicked shot from outside the penalty area just after halftime, and once the euphoria subsided, the Mexicans packed in and held off the Netherlands for so long.

斯內德的射門就像是催化劑，而且肯定也給人一種突如其來的感覺，畢竟墨西哥一度戲劇性地領先了比分。下半場剛剛開始，吉奧瓦尼·多斯桑托斯(Giovani dos Santos)就從禁區外一個刁鑽的角度地射門成功，這是他兩年來在國際比賽中首次射門得分；興奮感消退後，墨西哥人在很長時間裏成功地防住了荷蘭隊。

By the time the final minutes arrived, Netherlands Coach Louis van Gaal had already pulled his top scorer, Robin van Persie, because of fatigue, and it felt as if Ochoa were impenetrable. He stopped a close-range shot from Stefan de Vrij off a corner kick. He stymied Robben, the wily attacker, when he slipped in along the side and tried to sneak a shot through Ochoa’s legs. He even stopped a Huntelaar shot from about two yards out with a fantastic save, although the Dutch were ruled offside anyway.

比賽臨近最後幾分鐘時，荷蘭主帥路易斯·範加爾(Louis van Gaal)已經因疲勞換下了頭號射手羅賓·范佩西(Robin van Persie)，奧喬亞看上去似乎堅不可摧。他撲出了斯特凡·德弗裏伊(Stefan de Vrij)利用角球進行的一次近距離打門。當老謀深算的前鋒羅本從側路逼近，試圖隱匿地把球踢過他的腿時，奧喬亞也沒有讓他得逞。他甚至還神勇地擋出了亨特拉爾大約兩碼之外的射門，儘管荷蘭人越位在先。

All of it made the coda so cruel. Mexico had almost done it, had almost survived the Dutch attack and its own history and, perhaps most of all, the staggering conditions here. The game was played in stifling heat, and the midday sun made it seem as if many of the seats in the lower bowl of the stadium were unsold. In reality, most of the fans in sections where the sun was beating down had retreated to shady areas of the concourses.

所有這一切都讓結尾顯得太殘忍。只差一點點，墨西哥隊就能獲得成功，熬過荷蘭隊的攻擊，並終結自己不幸的歷史，也許最重要的是，從這裏的惡劣天氣條件中全身而退。比賽進行時天氣熱得讓人窒息，在正午的陽光下，體育場碗形看臺下部的座位空蕩蕩的，讓人以爲門票沒有賣掉。實際上大多數的球迷經不住太陽的暴曬，已經退到了看臺的遮蔭區域。

The players received FIFA-mandated water breaks midway through both halves, a merciful exception to soccer’s typically nonstop action but, on this day, also a talking point. Van Gaal said afterward that he took full advantage of the second-half cooling break, switching up his formation and using the stoppage to explain to his players precisely what changes he wanted to see.

球員們上下半場各享受了一次國際足聯授權的補水暫停時間，對於足球這種通常沒有停頓的行動來說，這是一種例外開恩，但是在這天，補水暫停也提供了交談時間。範加爾賽後說，他充分利用下半場的補水暫停，改變了荷蘭隊的陣型，並向球員解釋他希望看到怎樣的變化。

“I moved to Plan B,” van Gaal said. “That’s a clever way of benefiting from these breaks.”

“我改用了B計劃，”範加爾說。“這是對補水暫停的巧妙利用。”

His adjustments worked. With Dirk Kuyt and Huntelaar, who had fresh legs as a 76th-minute substitute, pushing forward, the Dutch played more long balls and tried to pressure the Mexican defense, which Herrera acknowledged was a bit naïve in not stalling more to protect its lead.

他的調整奏效了。隨着迪克·庫伊特(Dirk Kuyt)和第76分鐘新鮮替補上場的亨特拉爾發起進攻，荷蘭人用更長的傳球壓迫墨西哥防線；埃雷拉承認，他沒有采取拖延方式來維護墨西哥的領先優勢，這有點天真。

The result was catastrophic for Mexico. First came Sneijder’s lightning bolt that gave the Dutch hope. Then came Robben’s dodging run along the end line and an outstretched leg from Márquez.

對於墨西哥來說，結果是災難性的。首先是斯內德的閃電射門，給了荷蘭人以希望。然後羅本沿着底線蛇形跑動，而馬克斯也伸出了自己的腿。

Márquez and the Mexicans protested. Robben said afterward that while he did dive once in the first half, the final call was legitimate. In the end, none of it mattered. Proença pointed to the spot. Huntelaar converted. And Herrera, the largest character in this World Cup, barely moved.

馬克斯和墨西哥人進行了抗議。羅本後來說，雖然他上半場假摔了一次，但這次摔倒卻是真的。最後，這些都不重要了。普羅恩薩指向了點球點。亨特拉爾打入了點球。而埃雷拉，本屆世界盃上最張揚的人物，卻幾乎一動不動。