利物浦缺席欧洲赛事并没有因祸得福-European absence no blessing in disguise for Liverpool FC
by Ian Doyle, DPW West , 2011/9/15
IT’S the week Merseyside football fans have been dreading. There, in black and white, is the confirmation neither Liverpool FC nor Everton have European football this season.
这是让Merseyside的足球迷感到害怕的一周。本季欧洲赛事的赛程表上确定没有利物浦或者艾弗顿的比赛了。(这不是早就知道了吗orz...)
While the likes of Birmingham City, Stoke City and Fulham traipse around the Continent in the Europa League, and Manchester City make their Champions League debut, players on either side of Stanley Park are left kicking their heels in frustration while watching on television.
然而像伯明罕、斯托克城和富勒姆都还能在欧陆赛场上为了欧罗巴打拼，曼城也献上了欧洲冠军联赛的处女秀，而Stanlry Park两侧的球员只能在看电视的时候沮丧的踢踢自己的脚跟。
Ignore the nonsense about blessings in disguise and being able to concentrate on domestic competitions. Every player and every manager wants to pit their wits against foreign opposition, just as every supporter wants to fish out their passport to follow their team.
撇开那些幸好我们没去踢欧罗巴所以我们可以专心在联赛上的无稽之谈。任何一个球员或者教练都想要和外国的球队一较高下，就好像每个球迷都想翻出自己的护照然后飞去替自己的球队加油一样。
Well, nearly every manager.
当然啦，也不是每个教练都会这样想。
Reading from Sam Allardyce’s well-thumbed book of piffle, this week Harry Redknapp has been bleating on about the burden qualification for Europe has put on a Tottenham Hotspur squad everyone knows has been underfunded and undermanned for many, many years.
从Sam Allardyce常常翻的那本爱说废话的书我们知道，本周老雷抱怨说欧霸的资格赛对现阶段的热刺来说是个沉重的负担，大家都知道这个球队现阶段的资金不足，而且人手已经短缺很多很多年了。
Modric：怪我啰!?
Probably deluded by Tottenham’s first European Cup appearance last season for 50 years, so insignificant is the Europa League to Redknapp that he omitted star man Rafael van der Vaart from the competition list without even telling him.
也许是被去年热刺50年来第一次在欧冠赛场上亮相的成功给冲昏头了，欧罗巴对老雷来说是无足轻重的，也因此他在没有告知VDV的情况下就把这位队上的球星给移出大名单了。
VDV：Show some respect。
Yes, the Europa League can be a pain with its Thursday-Sunday-Thursday slog. And UEFA don’t help themselves by continually allowing Champions League failures to drop into the tournament in the New Year.
的确，这种星期四-星期日-星期四交替的赛程会对球队造成麻烦。而甚至UEFA也在帮倒忙，持续的让那些欧冠联赛挫败的球队得以在明年加入这项赛事。
But it’s a trophy, and so often the stepping stone towards greater things and acquiring better players.
但不论怎样，这还是一座奖杯。而且常常就是因为有这些绊脚石才能转化成一些更伟大的事，并且发掘出更棒的球员们。
Certainly, Liverpool or Everton should happily trade places with Tottenham. If Redknapp didn’t want his team in the Europa League, then why on earth was he so keen on qualifying for it last season?
毫无疑问的，利物浦或艾弗顿都会很乐于和热刺交换位置。如果老雷不想要带他的球队去踢欧罗巴，那上赛季干嘛又执著于最后的这一个席次。
VDV:......
Of course, right now somebody is probably wittering on ‘but the Premier League is more important as you make more money blah blah blah’.
Well here’s a fact. Money is for the club. Trophies, and the pursuit of them, are for the fans.
当然，现在也许会有人会说些"可是英超比较重要也可以带来比较高的收入"等等之类的理由。但是告诉你一件事：赚钱是球队的，奖杯和追求奖杯的那些过程则是属于球迷的。
Too many forget that. Not least Mr Redknapp.
很多人都忘了这一点。不仅仅只是老雷。
这篇主角到底是在说利物浦还是热刺阿XD
在这个热闹滚滚的欧洲赛事周里，利物浦的缺席的确让我这个球迷感到有一点点的遗憾。看到这篇的论调我有些赞同，也有些不赞同，我想大部分的球迷对于本季有没有欧霸踢也会分成两派吧。
不过总而言之，我觉得最后一部分写得很不错，尤其对球迷来说很中听。没比赛的日子是无聊的，有比赛看但没有支持的队伍是淡淡的哀伤。
毕竟欧冠也只有少数球队能踢，这篇就翻给那些跟利物浦同病相怜的球迷们吧(笑)
也希望本季利物浦能重返荣耀，然后再上演一出：那些年，我们一起追的奖杯。
