By Sebastian Contursi

　　伊川 译注

　　本文是贝克汉姆受伤后一位阿根廷记者在阿根廷报纸上发表的文章。作者虽然有为犯规的阿根廷球员开脱的意思，但文中也表达了真正的体育理想：与伟大的对手进行光明正大的较量。毕竟竞技体育从根本上说是人类力量与技巧的展示，没有旗鼓相当的对手的确可能令英雄寂寞。至发稿为止贝克汉姆仍未康复，但我们期望在读者看到这篇文章的时候他已经重又驰骋在绿茵场上了。

on the stretcher/贝克汉姆被抬出场外

on crutches/恢复中的贝克汉姆

　　A smallsgroupsof Argentine football fans were watching the Manchester United Vs Deportivo La Coruna match at a bar located somewhere in Buenos Aires (most of the Champions League games are broadcasted live here) when all of a sudden, boom!

　　After being badly challenged by Argentine Aldo Pedro Duscher, United's David Beckham grabbed his head in severe pain and was immediately taken from the pitch on a stretcher. We all know the rest of the story<注1>—by now.

　　English fans suddenly saw a void in midfield at the World Cup. But how did Argentines feel after such an unfortunate situation like that?

　　To be honest, it was an ambivalent feeling.

　　On one hand they all knew that—provided that Beckham is indeed out of the World Cup or is going to be in poor shape for the first three matches—most of the potential problems that Argentine national team manager Marcelo Bielsa could face on June 7<注2> would be solved by Beckham's absence.

　　The Argentine "fighters" in midfield (Juan Pablo Sor抧, Mat抋s Almeyda, Javier Zanetti and even Diego Simeone) would also be relieved at notshavingsto take care of England's inspirational skipper. And the weak defence would not have to suffer from Becks' dangerous crosses from which the English players look to show their speciality: the header.

　　So, what a great day for Argentina in terms of football then! Although, suddenly morality brought them all back down to Earth. "How in the world do you ruthless football fans dare to enjoy someone else's misfortune?" they asked themselves.

　　Then, after a minute of reflection, all of them—with a few exceptions - felt guilty as hell. No doubt about it.

　　Everybody in Argentina regards Beckham as a top class player, especially after all he did to get England to the Korea-Japan World Cup. And everybody knows how badly he wants to redeem himself after the infamous "Simeone affair"<注3> in 1998.

　　After all, there is nothing like facing and defeating your full strength "enemy".

　　But going back to Duscher's challenge itself, I don't believe that he had the intention of causing what he did, nor he was driven by any kind of "Argentine cause".

　　In fact, although it was an imprudent action by Duscher, Spaniard Diego Tristan's tackle on Beckham the week before was much worse. Wasn't it?

　　As regards to Duscher's attitude on the incident after the match, it could be seen as defiant for not making an apology. But knowing him well I think he was just trying to make English people understand that it was just another unlucky tackle among the many that we often see.

　　A few hours after the match Duscher told the Argentine press just that. "To me it wasn't even a foul. I just went for the ball and hit Beckham on my way," he said.

　　"Hinting that I meant to hurt him just because he will face my country is absolutely nonsense. The World Cup is the highest goal to reach for a footballer. And I'm one of them, so I would never do such a thing on purpose,"

　　"I don't think I need to talk to Beckham. However, I wish he could recover for the World Cup,"he added.

　　Believe it or not, beyond the relief that Beckham's absence could mean for Argentina national team on June 7, we will always want the great players to be fully fit to play against us.