2014-10-18

【Aiden in English】

        Soccer is awesome and so are Saturdays. Even better is 140 minutes of soccer on a Saturday with pizza, cookies, cupcakes, chips, and Gatorade.

        This day was kicked off with a win over the Montreal Impact. They probably have the worst record in the league and today, we Philadelphia Union made it worse. The ending score was 8-2. Boy, I was one bored defender. However, this day was just getting started. Here came to the Columbus Crew, the team we almost lost to in the Union's first game this season. The anticipation to this match was huge, and everyone was pumped to get a rematch against the Crew. The only thing we weren't counting on was letting in two goals in a matter of minutes. That blasted the Union's confidence to smothering, which was quite impressive. And something told me this game was not gonna go the way we wanted.

        It turned out that I was correct about my feeling. After the half, the Crew scored another goal. Soon something clicked. It seemed as if we were given adrenaline and flipped a switch. Suddenly, we ran faster and played stronger without hesitation. Just in a blink of an eye, it was 2-3. As the adrenaline ran out, we grew slow and tired. Everyone felt the same way except for me. I was the only reason we lost 2-3, not 2-6. I was a roadblock, stealing and booting the ball up the field as hard as I could.

        The next twist of the day was its finale. It was the Philadelphia Union again the Chicago Fire. Last time we played them and we ran laps around them. Today, it seemed like the other way around. They dominated the game. Occasionally making a mistake, but they were a solid team, especially their "commander". He controlled the game by sending up fast guys and passing the ball. I thought he was just a loud mouth, but his strategy seemed to be working since we lost 2-4.

        Today we learned an important lesson. As good as we are, we aren't good enough. We need to improve or else we will be overwhelmed for sure.

【紅霞譯文】

        踢足球好玩得要命，星期六因此令人心嚮往之。如果有這麼一個星期六在140分鐘足球賽中敞開享用比薩餅、點心、蛋糕、薯片、佳得樂，那麼感覺定將妙不可言。

        今天首場對“蒙特利爾衝擊隊”的足球比賽，我們“費城工會隊”以八比二贏得開門紅，讓“衝擊隊”在聯賽中臉面全無。哎，作為後衛隊員，我實在閒得無聊。然而這僅僅是開始，接下來輪到“費城工會隊”迎戰“哥倫布機員隊”，兩隊曾在本賽季第一場球賽中有過交鋒，當時我們險些輸給他們。這次再度相遇，雙方針尖對麥芒，火藥味十足，而我們本身熱切期待重展雄姿。比賽拉開序幕不久，對方連進兩球，打得我們措手不及，信心逐漸喪失殆盡，簡直太不可思議了。我隱約覺得，這場球賽搞不好事與願違。

        事實證明我的預感沒錯，半場過後，“機員隊”又踢進一球。可就在這個時候，奇蹟出現了。我的隊友好像注射了腎上腺素，猶如離弦的弓箭一觸即發。說時遲，那時快，我們跑動迅速，不顧一切地玩命拼搶。轉眼之間，比分一度被追成二比三。興奮勁一過，大家疲憊不堪，節奏又變得緩慢起來，唯有我還能恪守陣地，如果沒我獨擋一面，恐怕比分不是二比三，而是二比六。我堅如路墩子，拼搶進攻一點也不含糊。

        最後第三場“費城工會隊”對“芝加哥火焰隊”的比賽仍然不盡人意。記得上次兩隊交手時，我們鬥志旺盛，始終壓着對方半場打。如今時過境遷，“火焰隊”生龍活虎，主宰場上局勢。當然，他們的確實力不錯，其“指揮官”格外出色。他運籌帷幄，善於調兵遣將，極大地發揮個人特長。起先我覺得他大嘴巴瞎嚷嚷，但後來才意識到他指揮有方，戰略戰術運用得相當成功，致使我們二比四輸掉了這場球賽。

        今天足球循環賽給我們這些不知天高地厚自以為了不起的愣頭青當頭一棒，強中更有強中手，我們需要戒驕戒躁不斷努力，否則必有難堪的時候。