VOA标准英语2010年-US Soccer Team Prepares for Must Win M

US national soccer players, from left: Edson Buddle, Jozy Altidore and Landon Donovan train at Pilditch Stadium in Pretoria, 16 Jun 2010

The United States takes on Slovenia this Friday in their second match of World Cup play.  Slovenian midfielder Andrej Komac has already predicted a win for his team.  Slovenia already has three points in the Group C first-round standings.  The U.S. has one. 

The U.S. Soccer team is preparing for what is considered a must win on Friday against Slovenia.   Slovenia won its first match, Sunday against Algeria.

The international media met with the U.S. players near their camp  this week.  American star Oguchi Onyewu says the point deficit¹ puts Team USA in a tough spot in the fight to advance to the second round.

"Right now, it is kind of tricky² with us coming off a tie.  And, with Slovenia with three points right now, this makes Friday's game even more important in the progression past the group stages," Onyewu said.

Although the United States is ranked 14th in the world and Slovenia 25th, Michael Bradley, whose father coaches the U.S. team, says Slovenia plays a solid 90 minutes and does a good job of protecting the goal. "I think that, when you look at their results in qualifying³, they area hard team to play against.  I think they played 10 qualifiers in Europe.  I think they gave away four goals," he said.

 There is a lot of controversy⁴ surrounding the new world cup balls manufactured⁵ by Adidas.  Many players have complained they move through the air with a very different feel than traditional soccer balls. 

U.S. goal keeper Tim Howard, seen here, is one of the critics.

His teammate, Onyewu, says the new balls are an adjustment everybody has to deal with equally. "You know the ball it is a little particular.  The way that it is made, I am not really sure.  But it makes it difficult to judge crosses and the way it carries in the air is a little different from what we are use to but...like everything else I guess you have to get use to it and deal with it," Onyewu said.

A victory on Friday would put the U.S. into contention⁶ to advance out of the first round.  They meet Algeria in the Group C final on June 23.

 

1 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

2 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

3 qualifying   

使具有资格的

参考例句：

• players who fail at the pre-qualifying stage 在预选赛中淘汰掉的选手
• A doctoral candidate is required to pass a qualifying examination. 考博士需通过一个资格考试。

4 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

5 manufactured   

adj.人造的v.（大规模）制造( manufacture的过去式和过去分词 )；捏造；加工；粗制滥造（文学作品）

参考例句：

• a news story manufactured by an unscrupulous journalist 一位不道德的记者编造的一篇报道
• We want the machine manufactured to our own spec. 我们要求这台机器按我们自己的规格来制造。

6 contention   

n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张

参考例句：

• The pay increase is the key point of contention. 加薪是争论的焦点。
• The real bone of contention,as you know,is money.你知道，争论的真正焦点是钱的问题。