Argentina's journey to the world finals was an arduous one. In danger of elimination as the qualifying competition came to a close, they only booked their place in South Africa in their final game.

　　阿根廷的世界杯之旅异常艰难。预选赛行将结束之时，他们仍处于可能被淘汰的危险之中，只是在最后一场比赛中才获得一张南非世界杯的席位。

　　"The qualifiers are behind us now," he says. "For one reason or another we found it tough and we had to put a lot of hard work in. This is totally different, though. Argentina are always going to be one of the favourites. We've got some fantastic players and we are a great national team that's always right in there competing for trophies."

　　“预选赛已经结束了，”他说，“由于种种原因，我们遇到了一些困难，不得不进行艰苦的比赛。然而，现在完全不同了。阿根廷队总是最有力的竞争者之一，我们拥有非凡的球员，是一支作好准备夺取奖杯的伟大的国家队。”

　　In Messi's eyes one of the main reasons he and his team-mates can go into the tournament in confident mood is the identity of their coach, Diego Maradona, a man who knows what it takes to win the biggest prize in football. "Exactly, we all know that," he says. "That's why I said that the qualifiers don't mean anything now. We have a lot of faith and desire, and Diego's experience is going to be crucial."

　　在梅西看来，他和队友们确信自己能够进入世界杯决赛圈的最主要原因在于主教练的个性，迭戈·马拉多纳，这个了解如何赢得足球界最高奖的人。“事实上，我们都明白，”他说，“这就是我为什么说资格赛现在毫无意义的原因。我们充满信心和渴望，迭戈的经验将会成为关键。”