路透社 杜伊斯堡
即将开战的冠军争夺战可能会是弗朗切斯科·托蒂最后一次代表国家队出战。
意大利人不会怀疑托蒂的足球才华，他也被认为是意大利历史上最优秀的球员之一。
但在意大利国外，人们对他的评价却没有如此之高，原因很简单，他几乎很少在国际性赛事中表现出色。世界杯开赛之前，托蒂也宣布将会在世界杯后退役。
托蒂精彩的进球和巧妙的传球使他在意甲联赛里受人崇敬。但在国际赛事里，他却表现平平。
２０００年欧锦赛主帅迪诺·佐夫犹豫不决，不知应该把托蒂放在锋线还是中场。
两年后，韩日世界杯，乔瓦尼·特拉帕托尼围绕托蒂搭建自己的球队。资格赛阶段表现出色，但在决赛阶段表现令人失望。
今年的世界杯是托蒂证明自己的机会，但他却没能发挥自己的全部水平。
到目前为止，托蒂最大的成就是他在罗马队的出色表现。
现在，这位意大利１０号又有了证明自己的机会——世界杯决赛。
链接：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-丁晓晨-北京第二外国语学院英语系
责编：佟杉杉