3月23日晚，长沙贺龙体育场变身红色海洋，在全场球迷“必胜”的高呼下，中国国足以1比0战胜韩国队。这场“中韩足球对决”不仅备受两国球迷关注，也让远在欧洲大陆的足球强国英国足球媒体人的关注。
这场关键比赛的过程似乎让人看到了一支“假的”国足。
比赛第29分钟，武磊直传，于大宝不停球直接低射，但角度太正，被门将没收。
比赛第68分钟，国足快速反击，蒿俊闵分球中路，中路国足球员横向一拨，吴曦禁区前沿远射奔死角而去，但权纯泰将球扑出。
Yu Dabao headed in the Wang Yongpo corner in the 34th minute to give China the first win in six matches at the third phase of the World Cup Asian Zone qualifiers.
比赛34分钟时，于大宝凭借着王永珀的角球助攻头球破门，中国队在世界杯亚洲区预选赛第三阶段的六场比赛中迎来首胜。
The victory temporarily moved China out of the bottom of the 6-team Group A where Iran stands atop with 11 points from five matches, ahead of South Korea on 10. Uzbekistan sits in third with nine and Syria is fourth with eight. Qatar lies bottom of group after five matches.
这场胜利让中国队暂时摆脱了A组垫底的位置。在该小组6支球队中，5场比赛后伊朗积11分，排名第一，韩国队积10分紧随其后。乌兹别克斯坦积9分排名第三，叙利亚积8分位列第四。5场比赛后，卡塔尔排名垫底。
With four games left, China, collecting five points in the provisional fifth place, still has chance to earn a qualification ticket. The top two in Group A and Group B will advance to Russia 2018 directly after a home-and-away round-robin, while the third-place finishers from both groups will have a playoff with the winner going on to face the fourth-placed team from CONCACAF zone for a berth.
中国队积5分暂列第五，还剩4场比赛，仍有机会获得世界杯入场券。亚洲区AB两组的小组前两名在进行主客场循环赛后将直接进入2018年俄罗斯世界杯，而两个小组第三名将进行一场对决，胜者将与中北美洲及加勒比海区的第四名争夺一个晋级名额。
国足获胜后，一向被娱乐话题和社会话题占据的微博热搜榜上“中韩大战”成为了热度第一的话题。榜单前十中，有四个话题都与这场比赛有关。
一时间，全民都在热议这场来之不易的胜利，有网友神评论：“事实告诉我们最牛的不是太阳的后裔，而是龙的传人”。
当然，最经典的还是那一句“留给韩国队的时间不多了”的梗，让看球有一定时间的国足球迷“热泪盈眶”。
不过，对于中国队在世界杯预选赛上的表现，我们仍然不能抱有太多的期待，毕竟中国人龙一场，虫一场的“习惯”让更为资深的国足球迷的内心不安稳。在过去30年里，中国队的一贯表现是亚洲杯和东亚四强赛等低级别比赛表现尚可，甚至有高光时刻。可是，一到世界杯和奥运会这种大型比赛，球迷们的高期待就会随着国足们变成“软脚蟹”而转为失望，悲观，绝望，以及发誓再也不看国足的比赛了。
说到中国队昨天比赛的表现，欧洲知名媒体的足球评论人士也觉得不能太过于乐观，甚至在评论文章用了一个中国球迷非常熟悉的西方：China are the England of Asian football:big hopes followed by inevitable failure.
什么，中国队是亚洲的英格兰队？ 难道翻吧君看到了一个“假标题”？英格兰队不是欧洲的中国队（England is the China of European football）吗？ 2016年英格兰对冰岛队的时候，是多么与中国队在以往小组赛的形势类似：只要打平就出现。可是，英格兰却输得那个惨呀！中国的英格兰球迷实在是看不下去了，发出了“英格兰是欧洲的中国队”的感叹：
英超球迷们对苏格兰也真是恨铁不成钢呀！
在英国国内，媒体哪次不是“大胆”预测英格兰队在欧洲杯和世界杯能进入四强、决赛，甚至能拿大力神杯和欧洲杯的？可是，结果通常都“打脸”，“赤裸裸地脸”——连小组出线都困难。也就是说，中国队和英格兰队都有一个共同的特点：真实实力真地赶不上媒体和球迷的期望——希望越大，失望越大。
或许这篇文章的作者是一位真英格兰球迷，也如国足球迷一样，看穿了一切“假相”，直接切入与英格兰队一样的中国队的命脉。
在文章开头，作者是这样黑国足的：在此战前，主队中国队在小组里垫底，基本上失去了进军2018年俄罗斯世界杯的机会，要在为2022年卡塔尔世界杯做准备了——虽然这是大实话，可是请作者体谅一下主队球迷因为这一句话而在心里落下的一万点伤害阴影：
China host South Korea in a World Cup qualifier on Thursday but, with the home side already all but out of the running for a place in Russia, serious issues already threaten their chances of making it to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. China scraped through the first of two group stages in the Asian qualifiers but they have not won any of their five games so far in the second group stage. They sit bottom of their qualifying group – behind Iran, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Syria and Qatar – and, even if they pull off an unlikely victory against South Korea at the Helong Stadium on Thursday night, it would only postpone their inevitable exit.
作者似乎觉得这种客观事实性的“黑攻击能量”还不够，接着用“实力对比法”，再次来一个一万点打击阴影，而且是英国人最擅长的“讽刺手法”：虽然与亚洲领头羊澳大利亚和日本队的实力差距没有十万八千里（not a million miles behind the continent’s leading teams），不过，却有着实力上的差距（talent gap）而国足球迷和中国媒体根本看不到。接着，作者预言，下周二（3月28日）客场打伊朗的时候，国足就会遭到淘汰。怀有不切实际希望的球迷和媒体变会转而变得愤怒。
China are not a million miles behind the continent’s leading teams, such as Japan and Australia, but there is a clear talent gap – not that their supporters or media see it that way. When their elimination arrives, be it next Tuesday when they travel to group leaders Iran, or later, the reaction in China will be as angry as ever from fans and media, who have hugely unrealistic expectations.
好了，翻吧君看到这里，真地无法面对这位英国足球记者如此cynical的写法。心里想，你们英格兰也不过如此吧！“欧洲的中国队”也不是白白给你们的！也确实是如此，对于实力不高的球队寄予太高的期待，对于球队来说，压力山大呀！
In this regard China’s sports media functions remarkably like England’s did until very recently; they build up the hopes of an under-talented national team and then gleefully knock them down when the team inevitably falls short. Chinese supporters and media indulge in this masochistic routine every time an international tournament comes around.
小组赛里的惊喜却没有带入到第二阶段，而且比赛越深入，失望就越大。
The feeling of disappointment may be intensified this time around, though, after a surprising set of events in the first group stage took China through to the second round of qualifying for the first time since their only World Cup appearance in 2002.
不过，总是要给自己一些希望，不是吗？中国队在七年不胜韩国之后，不仅是以一球小胜的结果丢掉了“恐韩症”，而且在比赛整个过程也胜过了擅长奔跑，体力见长的对手。
好在中国队主教练里皮没有骄傲，他冷静地点评了这次比赛的得失，并表示国足可以做得更好。
"Before the match, we knew the importance to win this match. And we worked hard to get the three points we must get. But it is not enough to win a ticket to World Cup. We need to continue this momentum and win the following matches."
“比赛之前，我们就知道赢下这场比赛至关重要。我们必须拿到这3分，我们努力做到了。但这还不足以赢得世界杯的入场券。我们需要保持这一势头，在接下来的比赛中获胜。”
"We still have space to improve. We didn't play the same level as we did in the last match against Qatar," said Lippi.
“我们仍有进步空间。我们没有踢出上次和卡塔尔对战时的水平。”
"In the first half, we played too defensively in front of the opponent's pressure. I don't want to see the same 45 minutes in the following matches any more," he said. "In second half, my team was well organised in defence and created several chances to score. We still have much work to do."
“上半场，在对手的压力下我们踢的太保守。我不希望在后续的比赛中看到同样的情况。下半场，我们队的防守做得很好，并创造了几次得分机会。我们还有很多要做。”
"Due to the injury and fatigue of several key players, we couldn't field our best lineup onto the pitch. It was not our best form. We can do better in the next match," he added.
“由于几名核心队员负伤且过于疲劳，我们无法派出最强阵容。这不是我们的最佳表现。我们可以在下场比赛中做得更好。”
在2016年，接手国足不久后，里皮曾给自己设立了一个小目标，希望2017年能赢下韩国，赢下伊朗。如今，他已经做到了第一步。希望国足在打伊朗的时候依然有好的表现，成为小组赛的“英格兰队”！
注：本文综合《卫报》报道和中国日报英语点津董静报道。
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