时隔三十六年 阿根廷再捧大力神杯

People in sports sometimes say an exceptionally close game is a nail-biter.

体育界的人有时会用“nail-biter”去形容一场势均力敌的比赛。

So it was fitting yesterday when the World Cup final went into extra time and the TV broadcast briefly showed a woman literally biting her nails.

昨天的一幕恰如其分，当世界杯决赛进入加时赛时，电视上短暂地播放了一名女子咬指甲的画面。

So was I. Argentina prevailed in a game that went into extra time and then a penalty kick shootout to decide the winner.

我也在咬指甲。阿根廷队在比赛中占上风，比赛进入到加时赛，点球大战将决出胜负。

This was a face-off between two nations, two teams and also arguably the two best players in the world, Kylian Mbappe of France and Lionel Messi of Argentina.

这是两个国家、两支球队的对决，也可以说，这是世界上最好的两名球员——法国的基利安·姆巴佩和阿根廷的利昂内尔·梅西之间的对决。

NPR's Jasmine Garsd is an Argentine American journalist and host of the podcast The Last Cup, which is about Messi's life story - wow, well-timed. Jasmine, welcome.

NPR新闻的贾思敏·加尔斯德是阿根廷裔美国记者，也是播客《最后一杯》的主持人，这个播客讲述的是梅西的人生故事——正合时宜。贾思敏，欢迎。

Hi.

嗨。

How are your fingernails? You OK?

你的指甲怎么样了? 还好吗?

My fingernails are fine. But my voice is a little raspy. I've been screaming for, like, five hours straight.

我的指甲还好。但我的声音有点沙哑。我已经连续尖叫了五个小时了。

I'm so sorry.

我很抱歉。

It's OK. You'll get through it. You'll get through it. What was it like yesterday as you were watching?

没关系。你会熬过去的。你会熬过去的。昨天你观看比赛的时候是什么感觉?

Oh, my God. I've been hearing that this is, like, one of the most beautiful World Cup games to ever be played.

我的天啊。我一直听说这是史上最精彩的世界杯比赛之一。

It was completely uNPRedictable. Argentina dominated in the first half.

比赛是完全不可预测的。阿根廷队在上半场占据主导地位。

We scored two goals. And it looked like a sure bet. But there are no sure bets in soccer.

我们进了两个球。看起来稳操胜券。但在足球比赛中，不存在板上钉钉的事儿。

Late in the second half, France scored two goals to tie the match. I was watching at a packed bar in Brooklyn.

下半场后半段，法国队连进两球扳平比分。我当时正在布鲁克林一家拥挤的酒吧里观看比赛。

They played 90 minutes of regulation. They played an additional 30 minutes of extra time and then went into penalty kicks.

他们踢了90分钟的常规赛。他们又踢了30分钟的加时赛，然后进入到点球大战。

You know, each team gets five kicks to define the game.

每队可以点射5个球来决一胜负。

So really, Steve, up until the very end, it was anyone's guess to how this was going to end.

说真的，史蒂夫，直到最后，所有人都还在猜比赛会如何结束。

Yeah. I felt like Mbappe and Messi, the greatest players on each side, were present at every key moment.

是的。我觉得两队最伟大的球员姆巴佩和梅西在每个关键时刻都在场。

It was almost like a movie in that sense, as if they were scripted as the stars.

从这个意义上说，这几乎就像一部电影，好像他们都是剧本中的明星一样。

Both of them scored goals, of course. Both scored penalty kicks.

当然，他们俩都进了球。两人都踢进了点球。

And I want to mention Messi, the guy you've been following for so long, seemed just super calm, almost nonchalant, which is amazing considering the pressure on him at this moment.

我想提一下梅西，这个你关注了这么久的家伙，看起来超级冷静，几乎是若无其事，考虑到他此刻所承受的压力，他的表现令人惊讶。

Yeah. I don't know how he did that. I mean, Lionel Messi is considered one of the best players in soccer history.

是的。我不知道他是怎么做到的。我的意思是，利昂内尔·梅西被认为是足球史上最好的球员之一。

He's never won a World Cup, though. The pressure was huge.

但他从未在世界杯上夺过冠军。他的压力很大。

And for Argentina, which is, like, a soccer-obsessed nation, this was seen as a huge failure, never winning a cup.

对于阿根廷这样一个如此痴迷足球的国家来说，从未赢得过奖杯被视为巨大的失败。

This World Cup was his last chance. He himself said he'd be retiring from the tournament after this one. This was it. And he did it.

本届世界杯是他最后的机会。他自己也说过，他将在这次比赛后退役。就是这次。他做到了。

Did it mean as much to him personally as it seems to to his country?

这对他个人的意义和对国家的意义一样大吗？

Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think that - I think this was a dream.

意义绝对是一样大。我是说，我觉得这是个梦想。

And I think everyone kind of got behind him on this dream. In Argentina, soccer is kind of like the unofficial religion.

我想每个人都站在他的身后，支持这个梦想。在阿根廷，足球有点像非正式的宗教。