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。
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.
英格兰，别为我哭泣
布宜诺斯艾利斯某处的一个酒吧里，一小群阿根廷球迷正在观看曼彻斯特联队同拉科鲁尼亚队之间的比赛(欧洲冠军联赛的大部分场次在布宜诺斯艾利斯都有直播)。突然，嘭！在遭到阿根廷人阿尔多·佩德罗·杜舍尔的剧烈冲撞之后，曼联队的大卫·贝克汉姆痛苦万分地抱住了头。他随即被担架抬离球场。如今，我们都已知道了后来发生的一切。
英国球迷立刻看到了世界杯上英格兰队中场出现的空当。但是，在这样一个不幸事件之后，阿根廷人是怎么想的呢？
老实说，这是一种矛盾的心情。
一方面，他们都知道——如果贝克汉姆真的不能出现在世界杯赛场上，或者在世界杯前3场比赛中状态不佳——阿根廷国家队主教练马瑟罗·贝尔萨在6月7日要面对的大部分潜在麻烦都会因他的缺席迎刃而解。
阿根廷队的中场“斗士”们(胡安·帕勃洛·索林、马蒂亚斯·阿尔梅达和贾维尔·扎内蒂，甚至包括迭戈·西蒙尼)都可以松一口气了，因为他们将无须费神对付英格兰队才华横溢的队长。而阿根廷队脆弱的后防线也就不用遭受贝克汉姆致命传球的折磨——英格兰球员正是指望靠他的传球来展示自己的特长：头球。那么，就足球而言，这个日子对阿根廷来说是多么伟大的一天啊！
虽然如此，道德感突然又把他们都带回了现实中。“你们这些没心没肺的球迷怎么竟敢以别人的不幸为乐？”他们扪心自问。
于是，片刻反省之后，所有阿根廷球迷——少数人例外——都觉得非常内疚。这一点毫无疑问。
所有阿根廷人都视贝克汉姆为顶尖球员，尤其是在他努力帮助英格兰队跻身韩日世界杯之后。所有人也都知道，经历了1998年“西蒙尼事件”的耻辱之后，贝克汉姆是多么地渴望洗刷自己。
归根结底，什么也比不上面对并击败一个处于巅峰状态的“敌人”。
说到杜舍尔这次抢断本身，我不认为他是故意想造成这样的后果，更不是出于任何形式的“阿根廷动机”。
实际上，尽管杜舍尔的动作的确粗野，一周前西班牙人迭戈·特里斯坦对贝克汉姆的铲断却还要恶劣得多。不是吗？
赛后杜舍尔对此事的态度可能显得有些不恭敬，因为他没有道歉。但我很了解他，我想他只是试图让英国人明白：这只是又一次后果糟糕的铲断，是我们经常看到的许多类似情形中的一个。
比赛几小时之后，杜舍尔对阿根廷媒体说了这样一番话。“我甚至不认为这是犯规。我只是在冲着球去的途中撞到了贝克汉姆。”
“认为我因为贝克汉姆将与我的祖国对垒而故意伤害他的看法荒谬透顶。世界杯是足球运动员追求的最高目标。我也是一个球员，我永远不会故意做这样的事情。”
他补充说：“我觉得我没必要对贝克汉姆说些什么。不过，我祝愿他能早日康复并参加世界杯。”
信不信由你，虽然6月7日这一天贝克汉姆的缺席对阿根廷国家队意味着轻松，但我们总是希望伟大的球员以最佳的状态来与我们较量。