Japan's Coach Is Having the Last Chu … - 世足

※ 引述《ivanos (common sense)》之銘言：
: Japan's Coach Is Having the Last Chuckle
: By JERÉ LONGMAN New York Times
: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/sports/soccer/28japan.html
: JOHANNESBURG — Two months ago, a month ago, even two weeks ago, few wanted
: to listen to this severe man who is said to write poetry and contemplate
: retirement as a farmer.

二個月...一個月...甚至二個禮拜前，幾乎沒有人會聽信這個會寫詩，
將來打算回家種田的老古板的豪語。


: He was Japan's coach at the World Cup, but who could take Takeshi Okada
: seriously? Japan reach the semifinals? A team that had never won a tournament
: game away from home? Okada’s prediction of reaching the semifinals seemed
: foolish. He became a laughingstock.

他是日本隊世界盃的總教頭。但誰會認真聽他說的鬼話？
「日本打進準決賽」？他們甚至還沒有在國外贏過一場比賽。
岡田放話打進準決賽的舉動看起來十分愚蠢，也讓他當時成了笑柄。


: And yet, Japan has surprisingly reached the second round, where it will face
: Paraguay on Tuesday in Pretoria. Japanese fans are no longer booing the team
: or calling for Okada to be fired. Instead, 40 percent of the nation is
: watching matches that begin at home in the middle of the night and end around
: sunrise.
: The most feverishly stricken are jumping into rivers in celebration, as 50
: people did in Osaka after Japan's stunning 3-1 victory over Denmark on
: Thursday put it into the Round of 16.

然而，日本創造了打進第二輪比賽的大驚奇，他們將在禮拜二於Pretoria面對巴拉圭。
日本球迷不再唱衰國家隊或是叫岡田滾回家種田...
於日本當地半夜播出的比賽創下了40%的收視率。
50名大阪民眾更在日本跌破眼鏡，以3比1擊敗丹麥擠進16強以後，跳進河中大肆慶祝。


: "He has a hard personality, no smile, his own decisions always,” Ushiki
: Sokichiro, who is covering the World Cup for Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun
: newspaper, said of Okada. “He was notorious before. Now, in Tokyo, he is
: famous.”
: And not yet satisfied. Okada, who is 53, wears glasses and flavors his
: remarks with lectures on religion, philosophy and history, has kept urging
: his team onward to meet his own unlikely forecast, saying, “We have to go
: for more.”

「他是個不苟言笑的人，而且總是剛愎自用。」讀賣新聞的足球記者牛木 素吉郎表示。
「以前沒人不酸他，現在大家都叫他岡總。」

53歲的岡田尚未滿足，他希望日本隊能夠更進一步達到他的預言目標。
「我們必須一場一場往前踢。」


: This moment of deliverance for Okada is as remarkable as it is unexpected.
: Japan’s buildup to the World Cup was dismal. After it lost to a second-
: string Serbian team, 3-0, in an April exhibition, Okada was criticized as
: “a bad joke” by Tatsuhito Kaneko, a columnist for the newspaper Sports
: Nippon. Kaneko said that a prediction of reaching the World Cup semifinals
: was “like ordering the current national team to walk on the moon.”

岡田能走到這成功的一刻是眾人所料未及的。日本隊的世界盃之路原本是慘淡無光。
四月的熱身賽，日本對上塞爾維亞隊的二線球員卻以零比三慘敗。
當時岡田被日本體育報的 金子達仁 批為天大的笑話，甚至還說「為了日本的未來，
你去輸一輸算了！」，並把打進準決賽的目標喻為「簡直是要日本球員登陸月球！」


: Fans signed petitions and answered polls, calling for Okada to step down as
: the coach. Then things got worse. In late May, after a 2-0 defeat to the
: fellow World Cup competitor South Korea, Okada seemed to offer his
: resignation to the Japanese soccer federation before saying he had spoken
: carelessly.
: Even his players questioned Okada’s shift from an attacking style to a
: defensive posture in the days before the tournament. Marcus Tulio Tanaka,
: a Brazilian-born defender, told his teammates to think for themselves,
: saying, “If we play as the coach told us to play, it can hardly help us to
: show our stuff.”

球迷寫下請願書、作問卷調查，要把岡田拉下總教頭的位置。
五月下旬，日本被死對頭南韓以二比零在熱身賽擊敗時，情況變得更糟。
連岡田本人都萌生退意，幾乎還沒喊到口號就要向日本足聯請辭總教練一職。

而他底下的隊員也有信任危機的問題，質疑他在大賽前轉守為攻的戰術方針。
在巴西出生的 田中鬥莉王 當時表示：「如果我們照教練要求的踢，什麼屁都踢不出來」


: Okada coached Japan in the 1998 World Cup, where it was bounced out in the
: first round, scoring one goal and losing all three matches. Japan was a co-
: host of the 2002 World Cup with South Korea and reached the second round
: under another coach, the Frenchman Philippe Troussier. But that was at home.
: Japan had never won a World Cup match on foreign soil.

岡田1998年執掌兵符時，第一輪就被淘汰出局，全隊只進一球、三戰全失。
2002年日本和南韓共同主辦世界盃，日本隊在另一名教練的帶領下二勝一和踢進十六強。

但那是在自己的主場。日本還沒有在海外踢贏過任何一場世界盃比賽。


: And according to common wisdom, it did not seem likely to do so in South
: Africa with Okada returning to take charge in an emergency after his
: predecessor had a stroke.
: Troussier accused Okada of overreaching, of wanting to play a beautiful
: possession game like Spain or Brazil without the caliber of players of those
: teams. Japan still had the “same stupid mentality” that it had under Okada
: in 1998, Troussier told Reuters in May, adding, “Okada has confusion in his
: head.”

依常理判斷，日本隊在南非世界盃不會有任何建樹。
尤其是在岡田緊急替補中風的Troussier之後。

Troussier甚至指責岡田「只想要日本踢出像西班牙或巴西一般華麗的球風」，
卻無視於球員本身的水準不如這些外國隊伍。他表示這屆的日本隊跟1998年
岡田所率領的那支隊伍一樣愚蠢。

Troussier在路透社五月專訪時再度補刀，「岡田那傢伙腦子一定壞了。」


: There was no confusion, Okada told reporters. South Korea reached the
: semifinals in 2002, so why not Japan in 2010? He said he predicted a
: finish that balanced his realism and his idealism.
: “I thought if I targeted the title, the players wouldn't get serious,” Okada
: told reporters before the World Cup. “But if I targeted the quarterfinals,
: they wouldn’t get motivated."

岡田沒有瘋。他告訴記者：「南韓2002年可以打到準決賽，沒道理2010年日本不行。」
他還表示自己在現實與理想中取得一個最完美的目標。
「如果我說要拿冠軍，球員可能以為我只是在說笑；但如果我只設定目標在四強賽，
他們也不會繼續拼下去」


: As the tournament opened, Okada benched Japan’s most prominent player, the
: creative midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura, and played with a lone striker in
: Keisuke Honda, a peroxide blond whose skill is authentic even if his hair
: color is not. Honda scored the only goal of that match, against Cameroon, and
: Japan won a World Cup game away from home for the first time.
: “This is not an achievement at all,” Okada admonished his players.
: “What’s coming next is the point.”

賽程開踢後，岡田讓日本隊中場要員 中村俊輔 坐冷板凳，
派球技比外表可靠的金髮小子 本田圭祐 打單箭頭。
本田攻進那場的唯一一個進球，擊敗喀麥隆，也獲得他們有史以來第一場的世界盃勝利。

「踢贏一場比賽並不是什麼成就，」岡田告誡日本隊隊員，「下一場比賽才是關鍵。」


: After a 1-0 defeat to the Netherlands, Okada switched tactics, playing a more
: assertive attacking style, and Japan routed Denmark with its one-touch
: passing and two goals on free kicks, including one by Honda. While many teams
: complained about the official World Cup balls, Japan and South Korea simply
: practiced with them until they grew comfortable with their speed and
: trajectory.

在零比一敗給荷蘭後，岡田變換戰術，盡力搶攻。對丹麥一役靠著一記妙傳
和兩個自由球破門贏得比賽。正當眾多球隊都靠盃普天同慶有多難踢，
日本和南韓卻藉著苦練，掌握了這顆球的速度和軌跡。


: The semifinals still seem a reach for Japan, which will face Spain or
: Portugal in the quarterfinals if it defeats Paraguay. Yet Okada’s
: prediction is now taken for what it was — motivation, not madness.
: Japan remains transfixed. The final group match with Denmark started at 3:30
: a.m. Tokyo time, and fans gathered to watch in cafes, bars and stadiums
: around the country. The team at Honda’s former high school watched in its
: uniforms. After the victory, Prime Minister Naoto Kan sent a note of
: congratulations, saying, “Everyone in Japan is proud and has been inspired.”

日本隊在準決賽看起來還是很有希望擊敗巴拉圭，在四強賽面對葡萄牙或西班牙。
當初岡田的放話，現在看起來已非癡人說夢，所有日本人都屏息凝神看著接下來的發展。
小組賽第三戰對丹麥，球迷們在午夜三點半聚在全國的咖啡廳、酒吧和體育館，
本田的高中足球隊學弟甚至穿著足球服觀戰。

在日本贏球後，日本總理菅 直人也拍報道賀：「所有日本人都感到光榮，深受感動」


: Critics are now eating their words. Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager who
: formerly coached in Japan, called the Japanese national team “quite a
: lightweight” before the tournament. At a dinner with Okada in April, Wenger
: told him, “If you get out of this group, they will have to build a statue of
: you in the middle of Tokyo.”

酸民現在開始後悔了。1995-96年執教過J聯盟名古屋鯨魚的英超名門兵工廠總教練溫格，
認為這屆日本國家隊的成員是「一群弱雞」。
四月與岡田共進晚餐時，溫格曾告訴他：
「如果你能從分組出線，我看日本人民會在東京都中心為你建銅像。」


: Perhaps it is time to hire a sculptor.

那也許現在可以開始找雕刻家了。 ∩＿＿＿∩ Let's Go
∩　| ︵ ︵ヽ ∩
( )∕ ⊙ ⊙ | ( E Nippon ppon!!
︱︱≡ ( _●_)ミ︱︱
ヽ ╲ミ |∪| /ノ /
╲ ╱
︱ Okada /


--
Let's Go 賭本!! 有翻錯懇請指正!!!

--