http://tinyurl.com/278tcec A Team United Has Fans Divided -How players from separatist Catalunia turned Spain into Cup favorites. Time Magazine June 14-21, 2010 Forty-five million Spaniards drew a collective breath at the news on May 2 that Xavi, the playmaking genius of FC Barcelona, was carrying an injury that might prevent him from playing in South Africa this summer for Spain's national team. His club coach said Xavi, 30, had a 3-cm rip just above his left calf muscle; if aggravated, the tear would require surgery, ruling him out of the World Cup. But with the Spanish league in its final stretch and Barca needing victories to stay ahead of archrival Real Madrid, Xavi opted to keep playing. "He is committed to this club," coach Pep Guardiola said at a press conference. "He is an example for everyone." Not everyone was pleased by Xavi's devotion to his club. "I thought to myself, We don't need him to be an example. We just need him to be fit for South Africa," says Sergio Soto, a pharmacist's assistant in Madrid. "Because without Xavi, our World Cup dream is finished." Spain had to wait a nerve-racking week before it could breathe easy. Xavi (few fans know his full name: Xavier Hernandez i Creus) played his last game of the season for his club on May 8 and emerged without further injury. Speaking to TIME shortly afterward at Barca's training complex outside the city, Xavi says his countrymen needn't have been on tenterhooks. "I know my own body," he says. "People all over Spain were worried, but I'm all right." It's not unusual for soccer-crazed nations to get exercised over the well- being of their star players — all of England winced at Wayne Rooney's groin strain, and Germany felt the pain of the egregious tackle that ended Michael Ballack's Cup hopes. But Spain's agonizing over Xavi tells a deeper story, one of soccer rising above politics and bridging ancient divides. Xavi is from Catalonia, the northeastern province washed by the Mediterranean that historically has had an uneasy relationship with the rest of Spain. Many Catalans see themselves as a separate nation and dream of independence. They speak their own language, Catalan, which sounds to the untrained ear like an admixture of Spanish, French and Portuguese. And like their Basque neighbors, they have a culture and history that have been often at odds with those of other regions of Spain. During the Franco dictatorship, authorities in Madrid sought to stamp out the Catalan identity, often by bloody force. The dictator favored Real Madrid, sowing the seeds for one of soccer's most bitter rivalries. In turn, many Spaniards have long regarded Catalans with distrust. In soccer, that translates into a frostiness toward Catalan players, a suspicion that they don't play for the national colors with the same enthusiasm as they do for FC Barcelona, a club so closely linked to the Catalan identity that its crest includes the Catalan flag. Barca's slogan, "Mes que un club" (More than a club), hints at its political role. Some Spaniards blame generations of Catalan players for the fact that the national team has never won the World Cup despite fielding world-beating talent every four years. During the 2006 Cup, Spain flamed out to France even before the quarterfinals. And yet in South Africa this year, the hopes of the Spanish national team — known as La Furia Roja, or the Red Fury — rest on a group of Catalan players: Xavi, Cesc Fabregas and Sergio Busquets in midfield and Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique in defense. (Goaltender Victor Valdes is also on the squad bound for South Africa, along with three non-Catalan players from Barca: Andres Iniesta, Pedro Rodriguez and the club's latest signing, David Villa.) The Catalan contingent, products of Barca's vaunted youth system, has helped the national team sweep all before it in the past four years, becoming European champions and flying up the FIFA national rankings from 12th to first, before being overtaken by Brazil. Now, thanks to the Catalan stars, La Furia Roja will travel to South Africa as favorites to win the tournament. "Catalan players do their best in the national team, and we are proving that," says Pique, 23. In that time span, Barca has won three Spanish league titles and two European championships. "This is Catalonia's golden generation of players," says Marc Ingla, a former marketing chief at Barca and a candidate for the club's presidency in elections this month. "Both the club and the country have benefited from these riches." For the players, the distinction is unimportant. "A footballer doesn't understand politics. What he wants to do is win," says Xavi. Says Pique: "As a player, your dream is to play in the national shirt and defend it against the world." But Xavi and company can't expect all their fellow Catalans to see it that way. For some Barca fans, the only "national" team is a collection of Catalan all-stars that plays occasional exhibition games in the region's colors. "One day we will send a Catalan team to the World Cup," says Xavier, a university student who refused to give his last name. "Until that day, that tournament means nothing to me." That sentiment is shared by the club's top official. Joan Laporta's highly successful seven-year presidency at Barca ends this month. He and Ingla have done more to turn the club into an international soccer powerhouse, with an annual budget in excess of $500 million and hundreds of millions of fans around the globe. "Barca belongs to the world," says Laporta. "Barca is Japanese, it's African, it's American." But is it Spanish? Laporta pauses for thought, then shrugs. "I have no emotion for the spanish panish national team," he says. "It doesn't matter if six of my players are in it." Some divides not even soccer can bridge. ※ 引述《Ivanov (Visca Catalunya)》之铭言： : http://tinyurl.com/2uucyr2 : Laporta其实也要选举啦 只不过他要选甚麽我还是没有搞懂XD : 用英文翻译这篇文章的话(当然要感谢Google translate :P) : 文章标题是 "Let us not to censor what is ours" : 文章的内容有兴趣的人去看一下 : 我想这句话跟Laporta带球队的风格也有关系 : Laporta在欧洲公共领域是个很不避讳谈区域意识的人物 : "Visca el Barça i visca Catalunya" 我想这句话大家都不陌生! : Laporta就是把这种概念发挥到极致的人 : 他在某次法兰克福书展上 更大辣辣的说 : 用西班牙文写作的Catalan不够格被称为Catalan作家 : (不确定是媒体渲染他的原意 还是他原本就这麽说) : 对他来说 FCB就是Catalunya地区的荣耀 这是我们文化的一部分 何必遮遮掩掩 : So, Let's not to censor what's ours. : (and glory of FCB is glory of Catalunya!) : 这种态度在西班牙境内一定会造成一些反弹 : 身边西班牙朋友不乏马德里人 : 或者是着眼"全球化"而认为这种地区主义没有市场的西班牙人 : 他们相当讨厌FCB 而且明白跟我指出特别是在Laporta这几年 : 他们觉得FCB变成了Laporta宣传他政治理念的工具 : 而这个政治理念不应该被带进足球场域 : 但当我问他们:"FCB是不是踢出Beautiful football" : 他们也不否认 但是他们讨厌FCB这种Beautiful Football : 因为他们觉得FCB这样让football不仅仅是体育而已...... : 我每次都很想反问他们 那你们的厌恶其实也让足球不仅仅是体育 : 因为你们厌恶的起源也着根於反对FCB的意识 : 不过 造成别人这种厌恶或许就是Laporta与众不同的"品味" : 让人家又爱又恨的品味~ : 我猜这是Ginola大想讲的 : Laporta为什麽比较有格局? : 就只单纯是因为他背後比其他(空洞?)的商业足球多了点东西 : 这些东西 或许是他个人的政治野心 : 但无疑的透过他自我政治野心的实践 : 他也塑造出FCB这几年更被凸显的风格 : 而其实他也证明了 地区主义只要好好经营 就算在全球化下也有市场 : 发展出自己的特色 勇於做自己 就是自己的市场 : Rosell是怎样的人 就只好慢慢看啦~:P -- ██████████████████ --

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