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One stray kick
致命一腳
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，我站在日本的球場上，等著在英格蘭對阿根廷的比賽中罰點球。這是我們在世界杯決賽的第二場比賽，也是小組中最艱難的一場比賽。這場比賽的勝利將有助于我們進入下一輪比賽。這也將大大有助于消除4年前糟糕的回憶。
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.
我很幸運能站在那里——不到兩個月前，我的腳骨折了。但我付出了巨大的努力來恢復，現在，我，英格蘭隊的隊長，即將出手，為我們隊贏得比賽。當我試圖集中注意力時，阿根廷隊長迭戈·西蒙尼朝我走來，伸出手來和我握手。轉眼間，我的記憶又回到了4年前的那個晚上，也是這個球員幫我踢出了上一屆法國世界杯。
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.
雖然我在1998年世界杯上沒有最好的開局，但在接下來的比賽中我為英格蘭打進了我有史以來的第一個進球，所以當我們面對阿根廷時，我感到很自信。這是一場重要的比賽。我們之間的對抗是足球史上最古老的對抗之一，一旦我發現我一直在首發，我就迫不及待地等待比賽開始。
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分鐘飛逝，兩頭各有進球。雖然比分是2比2平，但我們覺得我們足夠優秀去贏得比賽。
