07-06-2004
Eriksson on Zidane and Pires
"When you meet France, you have to talk because you never know if Zidane is going to be on the left side or central, and then on the other side there's Pires. If you give Pires space, he will beat people, put in crosses or take a shot himself. And up front you have two players who are not bad."
秃子的活动范围在左边或是中路，而另一边（右边？？！！）则有皮雷。皮雷能传能射。而且在法国队的前锋线上，同样也有两名优秀的球员（是指亨利与特秃吧）
Source: Reuters
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07-06-2004
Pires' friendship with Cole
Robert Pires insisted his friendship with Gunners and England full-back Ashley Cole would be put to one side in Lisbon. Pires added: "It's true that we are good friends with Ashley, but he certainly won't be any more during 90 minutes on Sunday. That's the game."
英法大战在即，谈到将与阿森纳队友阿什利科尔在球场上相遇，皮雷认为，即使作为队友，大家是关系很好的朋友，但在场上的90分钟内，要以比赛为重。
Source: TEAMTalk
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07-06-2004
Pires ready for England battle
Arsenal star Robert Pires is having a quiet smile about the threat of team-mate Ashley Cole to put him in his pocket at Euro 2004. Pires will not mind at all if he is the man in direct opposition to Cole when England play France next Sunday. In fact, he reckons he would welcome the chance to put Cole in his place for firing the first shots of the campaign.
Pires grinned: "Ashley is the one who started it. He’s the one who said he’d have no problem meeting me because I’d end up in his pocket. But I know how to get myself easily out of his pocket with a magic trick known only to me."
Joking apart, Pires believes he will face a stern test if he is put up against his Arsenal team-mate. He admitted: "It will be a clash for people to look forward to. We know each other off by heart, our strong and weak points. Ashley will try to intimidate me from the start. He has something I don’t, the complete mastery of the physical side. Deep down, that is not in my nature, even if playing in England has taught me to toughen up my game. The English like physical combat and Ashley just loves it. He’ll try to impose his presence on me straightaway."
“我们互相深知对方的强项与弱点。阿什利会从一开始就阻截我，他的身体条件比我好。英格兰非常重视身体，阿什利肯定会利用这一点。”
" What impresses me about him is he’s a young man with an old head on his shoulders. His rise has been meteoric since he took the place of Silvinho in the Arsenal defence. Watching him, you’d say he had played for years at the highest level. He has such a mentality to succeed that Arsene Wenger and Sven Goran Eriksson both count on him. In my view, Ashley will have just as rich a career as Bixente Lizarazu and Roberto Carlos."
“他绝对是少年老成。自从在阿森纳的后防线上取代Silvinho后，他进步飞快。你会以为他已经在顶级联赛中踢过多年了。至于他的心理素质，温格与埃里克森都非常信任他。我相信，科尔能像利扎拉祖、罗伯特卡洛斯一样优秀。”
The European Championships are a special event for Pires, whose father is Portuguese and whose relatives still live in the area France have chosen as their tournament HQ. He suspects France will have no greater challenge in the defence of their trophy than facing England. Pires said: "England are young and endowed with very good players like Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes and David Beckham. What’s more, the arrival of Eriksson at the head of their team has brought in more technique. The ball is more often on the ground."
皮雷的父亲是葡萄牙人，在法国队下榻的地方，仍住着一些皮雷的亲属。
“英格兰队有杰拉德、斯克尔斯和贝克汉姆这样优秀的球员，埃里克森更是带来了更多技术。地面球更多（？？）。”
"This will obviously be a special match. We are playing against friends - but will have to get that out of our heads. I like the English a lot. They surprise you and are not simple to handle. We will have some right customers against us. They’ll give us nothing and the game will be committed and intense on the physical level."
皮雷说英法大战时，要忘记俱乐部队友间的友谊。皮雷喜欢英国足球，同时也认为英格兰并不好对付，身体拼抢会非常激烈。
"England finished unbeaten in their qualifying group, so we must absolutely watch out for them. The game will set the tempo for what comes later because it allows you to see where you are from the outset. I think it’s good to start by facing one of the big guns."
Pires, who made the David Trezeguet goal which won Euro 2000 for France, missed their World Cup failure two years later through injury. But he still remains aware of the dangers of going into a big tournament as the popular favourites. Pires added: "France are still the team to beat but we’ll have to watch out that we don’t fall into the same trap as two years ago. Everyone trumpeted before the start of the World Cup: ‘Easy, they are in with Senegal, Uruguay and Denmark.’ We saw what happened there. Not one victory, not one goal and a return to France from the first round. Even if the health and form of the players are better than in 2002, we have to watch out. England, Croatia and Switzerland are all hard to manoeuvre round."
（这段好象以前已经看到过了。。。）
就是皮雷提醒说法国队要吸取2002世界杯小组就被淘汰的惨痛教训，不要过于自信。这次欧洲杯小组对手英格兰、克罗地亚和瑞士都很有实力。
Pires, as well as respecting England, names Portugal, Italy, the Czech Republic and Holland as the most dangerous threats to France’s Euro title. Portugal, especially, has a permanent place in his heart through the childhood memories that bind him to the country.
皮雷认为英格兰、葡萄牙、意大利、捷克和荷兰（那么多？！）都是法国卫冕欧洲杯的主要竞争对手。葡萄牙对于皮雷有着特殊的意义~~~~（呵，那我们也就顺便支持下黄金一代吧。。。）
Pires, born and bred in the French town of Metz, explained: "I went to Portugal for years every summer for the August holidays. My father was at the wheel of our Ford Escort and I was in the back with my younger brother Tony. We travelled 2,000 kilometres packed like sardines to Ponte de Lima, near Braga. It’s around 20km from Santo Tirso, our base camp at the Euro. I learned to play football in Portugal, playing on the beach with my brother, father and cousins. My cousin Eduardo entered us for all the village football tournaments and running races. I never stopped running. That’s why I gallop so much around the pitch! My mother kept all the cups. At the end of the month, when we had to go back, my brother and I were in tears. Perhaps I’ll see some of the family during the Euro because some still live there."
Pires, who scored 14 Premiership goals this term and made another nine for Arsenal, reckons he is ready for the big Euro 2004 challenge despite playing more games during the season than any of his France team-mates. He claimed: "In general, when I finish a season, I feel washed out. But I feel good this time. That’s no doubt because Arsene Wenger managed the end of our season intelligently. Once the title was officially pocketed, I played in only one and a half of our last four games."
"The time I felt tired was in August and September. I just wasn’t in it. Then October 4 happened and I scored the winning goal at Liverpool. I was completely transformed. My friends pointed out the expression on my face after the goal was meaningful. Perhaps I was waiting for that to get my season really started. The goal was important for me and the team."
"Arsene Wenger has tried to get me to realise I had the qualities to score goals. He asked me to take part as much as possible in Arsenal’s attacking. So my game has developed. I hang around in the box more. I am there when the keeper lets go of the ball."
“是温格教练使我意识到自己能够射门得分。他要求我多参与到进攻中。于是我更多地在禁区活动。当对方门将脱手时，我的机会就来了。”（晕。。。也是‘机会主义者’？？）
Source: The Sun
[此贴子已经被作者于2004-6-8 10:43:07编辑过]
