路透社 杜伊斯堡
即將開戰的冠軍爭奪戰可能會是弗朗切斯科 托蒂最後一次代表國家隊出戰。
意大利人不會懷疑托蒂的足球才華，他也被認為是意大利歷史上最優秀的球員之一。
但在意大利國外，人們對他的評價卻沒有如此之高，原因很簡單，他幾乎很少在國際性賽事中表現出色。世界盃開賽之前，托蒂也宣佈將會在世界盃後退役。
托蒂精彩的進球和巧妙的傳球使他在意甲聯賽裏受人崇敬。但在國際賽事裏，他卻表現平平。
２０００年歐錦賽主帥迪諾 佐夫猶豫不決，不知應該把托蒂放在鋒線還是中場。
兩年後，韓日世界盃，喬瓦尼 特拉帕托尼圍繞托蒂搭建自己的球隊。資格賽階段表現出色，但在決賽階段表現令人失望。
今年的世界盃是托蒂證明自己的機會，但他卻沒能發揮自己的全部水平。
到目前為止，托蒂最大的成就是他在羅馬隊的出色表現。
現在，這位意大利１０號又有了證明自己的機會——世界盃決賽。
鏈結：http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-worldtotti_profile&prov=reuters&type=lgns
原文：World-Totti's final chance to shine on global stage
By Simon Evans
DUISBURG, Germany, July 8 (Reuters) - Sunday's World Cup final could be Francesco Totti's last game for Italy and will go a long way to determining how he is remembered.
No-one in Italy doubts that Totti is one of the greatest talents their country has produced and among the very best players of the past decade.
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But outside of the peninsula opinions on the 29-year-old AS Roma captain are much less certain for the simple reason that he has rarely shone on a global stage and long before the World Cup said he may quit as an international after it finishes.
Wonderful goals and sublime passes in Serie A have earned him the admiration of those who follow Italian domestic football but those moments of genius have been much rarer in the big international tournaments.
At Euro 2000, then Italy coach Dino Zoff could not decide whether Totti was a midfielder or a striker.
But he played an important role in Italy's run to the final where they lost to Sunday's opponents, via a golden goal, earning the man of the match award in the final.
Two years later, Giovanni Trapattoni decided to build his team around Totti for the World Cup finals in South Korea and Japan.
FANTASTIC FORM
During qualification Totti was in fantastic form but at the finals he failed to live up to expectations and ended the campaign with a sending-off in the humiliating second-round defeat to the Koreans.
In the European Championships in Portugal two years ago, Totti's reputation suffered an even bigger blow when he was handed a five-match ban after television cameras caught him spitting in the face of Danish midfielder Christian Poulsen.
With Totti sidelined and shamed, Italy failed to qualify from their group and another competition ended bitterly for the Azzurri.
In the meantime, AS Roma's failure to compete at the business end of the Champions League has meant that Totti has not been visible in Europe's biggest club competition.
This World Cup then was to be Totti's big chance to show the world exactly why his countrymen rate him so highly but once again he has not been able to demonstrate his best form.
In February, Totti broke his ankle in a Serie A match against Empoli and there was a fear that he might not even be able to make the trip to Germany.
Intensive work from Roma and Italy's medical teams got Totti in the position where he could make a couple of substitute appearances at the end of the season and turn up at Italy's pre-World Cup training camp.
He arrived in Germany still well below peak condition. Before the opening match against Ghana the playmaker described himself as "60-70 percent fit" but coach Marcello Lippi decided to try to play him into form.
Having played a modest part in Italy's three group games, Lippi decided to leave Totti out for the second-round tie against Australia but he came on as a second-half substitute and ended up converting the last-minute penalty for victory.
His fitness has improved through the competition and although he was subdued for large parts of the semi-final win over Germany he lasted the full 120 minutes including extra-time.
Up until now Totti's greatest success was to inspire Roma, his only club, to the Italian title in 2001, an achievement which ensured his idol status in the capital where he was born.
Now the Italy number 10 has the chance, in Sunday's final, to show the world his full array of skills and go from local hero to world champion.
作者-丁曉晨-北京第二外國語學院英語系
責編：佟杉杉