Why Philipp Lahm is the world's second-best player
看完实在是苏得腿都软了TOT，不知道有没有翻译版本，就顺手翻译了下。今天看到了小队的新图，虽然撑着手杖但是笑得很开心~真是太好了！
（字上划线是对图片的解说，第三张图片解说可以看出Uli先生已经开始了人迷的经典脑补→_→）
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为何菲利普·拉姆在世界最佳球员排行中位列第二？
为何菲利普·拉姆在世界最佳球员排行中位列第二……至少位列第二
一位德国人排名超过了梅西，你是否对此感到惊讶？Uli Hesse告诉你，请不要惊讶。
很多人都想知道德国人突然从“云端”坠落的原因。在这个神奇的夏天之后，世界杯冠军被阿根廷人彻底打败、史上第一次输给波兰、没能战胜爱尔兰，并且很逊地赢下了直布罗陀，被自家球迷在场外嘘声一片。
这当然是多方因素共同作用使然。但摆在国家队主教练勒夫面前最严峻的问题之一就是他在休赛期间至少失去了四个关键人物。
日复一日，他不得不面对失去世界上最好的后腰之一、世界上最好的左边后卫之一、世界上最好的右边后卫和他在球场上的得力助手——一位阅读比赛能力如此完美以至于被世界上最著名的教练称为“他执教过的最聪明的足球运动员”的球员。这四个关键人物有一个共同的名字——菲利普·拉姆。
如果“只有失去的时候才知道你曾拥有过什么”是真理，那么菲利普·拉姆会在明年夏天当选为“德国足球先生”，即使他将因为今年十一月脚踝骨折而缺席三分之一个赛季。
如果拉姆——他这一代中德国的最佳球员——在挂靴之前（拉姆现在31岁）没能获得这一奖项的话，那这将是这一最高荣誉的评选的失策。
（拉姆是勒夫的右边后卫、左边后卫、新闻发言人和得力助手）
当然你能够理解为何这类奖项会颁给杰出的进攻型球员——近几年获奖的是米洛斯拉夫·克洛泽、马里奥·戈麦斯、弗兰克·里贝里、阿尔杨·罗本和马尔科·罗伊斯——当然曼努埃尔·诺伊尔在过去四年间获得两次这一奖项另说。（这也可以说是德国的特色。历史上只有列夫·雅辛这一个门将获得过金球奖，而诺伊尔是这一奖项中第六个来自德国的候选人。）
“拉姆在17岁的时候已臻完美”
如果你同时考虑竞技水平和稳定性，那么在德国队的比赛中，没有人能像拉姆一样。发现他的才华的人叫赫尔曼·格尔兰。他现在是拜仁的助教，而曾经是拜仁预备队的教练，为俱乐部培训本土人才。他曾说过：“拉姆在17岁的时候已臻完美。他自己能搞定一切，我已经没什么可以教他了。”格尔兰又说：“菲利普从没踢过糟糕的比赛。他没有踢糟糕比赛的能力。”
2003年，当拉姆19岁的时候，格尔兰试着将他租借到另一家俱乐部，在星光熠熠的拜仁，他没法得到必要的上场时间。格尔兰打电话给当时斯图加特的教练菲利克斯·马加特，向他推荐一名“看上去只有15岁但踢球像30岁”的球员。将信将疑的马加特想知道他可以让这个神奇小子踢哪个位置。格尔兰的回应是：“右边后卫，或者左边后卫，或者右边前卫，或者中场。”
（小拉姆：2003年被租借到斯图加特）
租借之后两个月，斯图加特在欧冠比赛中遇上了曼联。通过格尔兰，阿历克斯·弗格森爵士看了眼拉姆之后就想马上签下他。
这已经是十年前的故事：拉姆适合你所有想让他踢的位置，甚至并非表现平平，而是立刻得到任何了解比赛的人的赞赏。但可能直到瓜迪奥拉的出现才让世人知道拉姆有多么优秀。
这个加泰罗尼亚人不仅在刚到拜仁三个月就将他称为他所知最聪明的球员，更是告诉所有听说过足球比赛决定于中场的人他将把自己最好的球员放在球场的这个位置（中场）。于是，他把拉姆——世界上最好的右边后卫——放到了中场，即使他有一堆其他的中场球员可以选择，即使他没有另一个顶级右边后卫。
这发出一个强烈的信号。实际上，这个信号让国家队主教练勒夫延续了瓜迪奥拉的设想，在世界杯一开始，将拉姆放在中场。这足以将德国队带入四分之一决赛，但随着赛事变得激烈艰难，拉姆在最后三场比赛中回到了他原来的位置。
从那以后，德国队因为有了坚如磐石的防守而表现出更强的穿透力（多亏了拉姆的叠瓦式助攻），以仅失一球（在7-0领先巴西的情况下的丢球）的成绩最终夺得了阔别已久的大力神杯。而在“德国足球先生”的投票中，拉姆最终位列几何？第五。真荒唐。
聪明而乐于助人
所以，如果并且当我最终成为德国体育记者协会——颁发这个奖项的组织——的正式成员（你们知道格劳乔·马克思的事例，所以不要那它打赌），我将把票投给拉姆，不管他这个赛季怎么样。
在他做了这么多之后，没有人比他更值得这个奖项。虽然我不得不说从11月的某一天开始我在这件事上已经不能全然地不偏不倚。
（“干杯，Uli”：拉姆举起了一个玻璃杯）
在那天之前，对问我谁是最聪明、最友好和最乐于助人的职业球员的人，我给出的答案都是马茨·胡梅尔斯。（我第一次见到他并向他介绍我自己的时候，胡梅尔斯说：“噢，我认识你，我读过你的一本书。”你懂的，这让人很难抗拒。）
拉姆的2014
·拜仁（联赛）：比赛25场赢20场平4场输1场
·拜仁（德国杯）：比赛6场赢6场
·拜仁（欧冠）：比赛11场赢7场平2场输2场
·德国队（世界杯）：比赛7场赢6场平1场
·总计：比赛49场赢39场平7场输3场
·奖杯：联赛、德国杯、世界杯
但那一天，我坐在电话机旁边等一个电话，然后突然意识到这个电话永远不会打过来。或许我应该解释一下，以前的时候如果你有什么想知道的你得弄到球员的电话号码并且给他们打电话。当然并不保证他会接你的电话，但至少你是主动的那一方。而现在，拜仁的新闻官告诉你球员会给你打电话。我理解为什么俱乐部会选择这个方式，但这样一来将记者陷于不幸的境地：依旧没法保证你能听到那个球员的声音，而现在你还不能离开你的办公室或家，万一电话打过来的时候你在地铁上或者在超市收银台排队结账，那就太糟了。
所以11月11日，我坐在电话机旁边，因为被告知拜仁的队长将在下午1:30之后给我打电话。突然我惊恐地发现：今天是拉姆的生日。
新闻官在安排这次谈话的时候肯定没有考虑到他在这个日子绝对有比给德国另一边的一个陌生人打电话更好的事情要做。懊恼地叹了口气，我决定放弃在电话机边上一无所获地待一个下午。
下午1:35，电话响了。
“你好，”一个欢快的声音响起，“我是菲利普·拉姆。”
via https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/why-philipp-lahm-worlds-second-best-player-least
Why Philipp Lahm is the world's second-best player… at least
Surprised that the German outdid Lionel Messi? Don't be, says Uli Hesse…
Many people wonder about Germany's sudden fall from grace. Following their magical summer, the World Cup winners have been soundly beaten by Argentina, lost against Poland for the first time in history, failed to defeat the Republic of Ireland and were so underwhelming against Gibraltar that their own fans booed them off the pitch.
Needless to say, there's a variety of factors at work here. But one of the biggest problems plaguing national coach Joachim Löw is that he's lost no fewer than four key figures during the off-season.
From one day to the next, he had to make do without one of the best defensive midfielders in the world, one of the best left-backs in the world, the best right-back in the world and his right-hand man on the pitch, a player whose understanding of the game is so faultless that the most famous coach in the world has called him the most intelligent footballer he's ever worked with. These four key figures are called Philipp Lahm.
If it's true that you only know what you've got when it's gone, then Lahm has to be voted Germany's Footballer of the Year next summer, even though he'll miss at least a third of the current season after breaking his ankle in November.
That's because it would constitute an absurdity of the highest order if the best German player of his generation should finish his career (Lahm is now 31) without ever having won this honour.
Lahm was Löw's right-back, left-back, anchorman and right-hand man
Of course you can understand why awards of this kind usually go to outstanding offensive players – Miroslav Klose, Mario Gomez, Franck Ribéry, Arjen Robben and Marco Reus have been among the more recent winners in Germany – and there's even something to be said for the fact that Manuel Neuer has been awarded the trophy twice in the last four years. (Namely that it's a bit of a German speciality.
While only one goalkeeper, Lev Yashin, has ever won the Ballon d'Or, Neuer is already the sixth to be voted Germany's Footballer of the Year.)
"At 17, Lahm was already perfect"
If you consider not just class but also consistency, then there's never been anyone like Lahm in the German game. The man who discovered him is called Hermann Gerland. He is now Bayern's assistant coach but used to be the coach of the reserves, where the club grooms its homegrown talents. He once said: "Lahm was already perfect when he was 17. He could do it all, there was nothing left for me to teach him." Gerland also said: "Philipp never played a bad game for me. He is incapable of playing badly."
When Lahm was 19, in 2003, Gerland tried to find a loan club for him because the youngster wouldn't get the playing time he needed in Bayern's star-studded side. Gerland phoned Felix Magath, then coaching VfB Stuttgart and offered him the services of a player "who looks like he's 15 but plays as if he 30". A skeptical Magath wanted to know where he should play this wonderboy. Gerland replied: "At right-back. Or left-back. Or right-sided midfield. Or central midfield."
Little Lahm: On loan at Stuttgart in 2003
Two months after the loan deal, Stuttgart met Manchester United in the Champions League. According to Gerland, Sir Alex Ferguson took one look at Lahm and immediately wanted to sign him.
That has been the story of the last 10 years: Lahm fitted in wherever you played him, hardly ever put in even a middling performance and immediately earned the admiration of anyone who knows the game. But it probably took the arrival of Pep Guardiola to make the world realise how good Lahm really is.
The Catalan not only called him the smartest player he knew after barely three months at Bayern, he also told anyone who would listen that football games are decided in midfield – and that it follows from this that your best players should play in this part of the pitch. Then he moved Lahm, the world's best right-back, precisely there, even though the coach had tons of others midfielders to choose from but not another top-class right-back.
It sent out a strong signal. Actually, it was so strong that national coach Joachim Löw followed Guardiola's advice and used Lahm in midfield when the World Cup began. That was good enough to get Germany into the quarter-finals, but when the going got tough and the tournament hung in the balance, Lahm went back to his old position for the final three games.
From there on, Germany combined extra penetration out wide (thanks to Lahm's overlaps) with a rock-solid defence – and conceded only one goal (at 7-0 up against Brazil) to finally win the trophy that had eluded the team for so long. And when the votes for Germany's Footballer of the Year came in, where did Lahm finish? Fifth. Ridiculous.
Intelligent and accommodating
So, if and when I finally get around to becoming a card-carrying member of the German Association of Sportswriters (you know the Groucho Marx quote, so don't bet on it), the organisation which hands out the award, my vote will go to Lahm regardless of the season he may have had.
Nobody deserves it as much as he does. Though I have to say I'm no longer entirely impartial in this matter – not since a drab day this November.
"Cheers, Uli": Lahm raises a glass
Until that day I always used to tell people who asked me about these things that the smartest, nicest and most accommodating professional footballer was Mats Hummels. (When I first met him and introduced myself, Hummels said: "Oh, I know you: I've read one of your books." This, you'll surely understand, is hard to trump.)
LAHM'S 2014
Bayern (League): P25 W20 D4 L1
Bayern (Domestic cups): P6 W6
Bayern (in Europe): P11 W7 D2 L2
Germany (World Cup): P7 W6 D1
Total: P49 W39 D7 L3
Trophies won: Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, World Cup
But on that day I was sitting by the phone waiting for a call and suddenly realised it would never come. Maybe I should explain that in the old days, you'd have a player's number and could call him if there was something you wanted to know. Of course there was no guarantee he would answer your call, but at least you were the one taking the initiative. Today, press officers tell you that the player will call you. I can understand why the clubs prefer it this way, but it creates an unfortunate situation for a journalist: there's still no guarantee you'll ever get to hear the player's voice and now you can't even leave your house or office, as it will do you no good if the call comes when you're on the tube or queueing at the supermarket checkout.
So I was sitting by the phone on November 11, having been told that the Bayern Munich captain would call at some time after 1.30pm. Suddenly I made a terrible discovery: it was Lahm's birthday.
The press officer must have arranged the talk without realising that the player would have better things to do on this day than calling a stranger at the other end of the country. With an irritated sigh, I resigned myself to spending the whole afternoon by the phone for nothing.
At 1.35pm, the telephone rang.
"Hello," said a cheery voice, "this is Philipp Lahm speaking."
