Back after 32 years

Back after 32 years （如果时光倒流32年）
The 2 teams － Australia and the USA played their opening games on the same day． One team came away happy and the other not so happy． Having moved to Australia many years ago as a professional footballer － it was nice to see my adopted country record its first ever win in a World Cup． When I arrived in Brisbane，situated on the east coast of Australia，so many years ago － the last thing on Australias‘mind was the World Cup．
It was a new country with only 17 million people who were and still are sports mad． However ‘football’ as the rest of the world calls it is not called ‘football’ in Australia and is not the number one sports las in so many other countries．
There are 4 other sporting codes that attract a greater following － Rugby League，Rugby Union，Australian Rules，and Cricket¹． Soccer（as it is called in the Antipodes）came in a distant 5th － why do we and the USA call it soccer? Australia has Australian Rules and The USA has American football，which is their football respectively，so media and federations² decided³ to call the game soccer and not football．
That‘s also the reason so many English teachers from the USA and Australia teach the word soccer and not football to Chinese students．
Now back to football． It was one of those games that had more controversy⁴ than all the other games put together，a Japan goal that should not have been，a penalty⁵ that should have been，and 3 goals from Australia in the last 6 minutes to give them their first ever win in a World Cup． Today though，all the talk will be about the referee⁶ who made so many bad decisions． In the end there were 3 points for Australia which will be great for football（“O” sorry soccer）back in Australia． The USA will have to go back to the drawing board after their hiding from the Czech Republic．
Australia will play Brazil next． Perhaps another upset is in the offing－ perhaps not BUT do not discount the “never say die” attitude of the Aussies！
Who would have given them ay hope of winning this game with 6 minutes to go and 1－0 down the best we could hope for was a draw perhaps，not this Aussie team “you beauty” a 3－1 win． I still have to pinch myself．

1 cricket   

n.蟋蟀，板球运动；adj.公平的

参考例句：

• The England cricket team scored quite a useful total.英格兰板球队得分总数令人满意。
• We could hear the shrill of the midsummer cricket.我们可以听到仲夏时节蟋蟀的尖叫声。
• Your behaviour isn't cricket.你的行为不光彩。

2 federations   

n.联邦( federation的名词复数 )；同盟；联盟；联合会

参考例句：

• These problems are women's special problems and special work of women's federations. 这样的问题，就是妇女的特殊问题，就是妇联的特殊工作。 来自互联网
• The Bridge Federate is a feasible solution to achieve multi-federations interconnection. 基于桥接成员实现多联邦互连是目前较为通用和可行的方法。 来自互联网

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

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 penalty   

n.处罚，刑罚，罚款

参考例句：

• If you knock the ball with your hand in football,you will suffer a penalty.如果在踢足球时你用手碰到球，你将受到处罚。
• One of those arrested could face the death penalty.被捕的那些人中有一人可能被判死刑。

6 referee   

n.裁判员．仲裁人，代表人，鉴定人

参考例句：

• The team was left raging at the referee's decision.队员们对裁判员的裁决感到非常气愤。
• The referee blew a whistle at the end of the game.裁判在比赛结束时吹响了哨子。