Title:Julen Lopetegui behaved poorly; the Spanish FA was right to fire him

It is easy to be cynical in the modern game. So much so that, when someone makes a stand on principle -- even if you disagree with it -- you stand up and take notice.

在现代比赛中，人们很容易玩世不恭，所以当有人在原则上站时，即使你不同意，你也会站起来，注意一下。

Perhaps you had not heard of Luis Rubiales before Wednesday. He is the head of the Spanish Football Association, and on Tuesday evening he received a call from his national team coach, Julen Lopetegui.

也许你星期三之前没有听说过路易斯·鲁比亚莱斯，他是西班牙足协主席，星期二晚上，他接到了他的国家队教练胡伦·洛皮特吉的电话。

Rubiales listened as Lopetegui told him that, in a few minutes, Real Madrid would announce that he was to be their next manager, replacing Zinedine Zidane. Therefore, after the World Cup, Lopetegui would need to rescind the contract extension he signed with the Spanish FA on May 22, just three weeks earlier. It was a deal for which Rubiales, who only took his job in April, had personally negotiated and lobbied.

鲁维亚莱斯听了洛皮特吉告诉他，几分钟后，皇家马德里将宣布他将成为下一任经理，接替齐尼丁·齐达内。因此，世界杯结束后，洛皮特吉需要取消他与西班牙足联于5月22日签订的合同延期，仅在三周之前。鲁比亚莱斯在4月份才接过工作，为此他亲自谈判和游说。

The president did not take his manager's news well and it's no surprise that he flew from Moscow to the Spain camp in Krasnodar immediately, skipping out on Wednesday's FIFA Congress, to confront Lopetegui. The meeting ended with Lopetegui being sacked on the spot, despite the protestations of some players.

主席没有很好地理解他的消息，毫不奇怪，他立刻从莫斯科飞往克拉斯诺达尔的西班牙营地，没有出席周三的FIFA会议，与洛皮特吉对峙。会议结束时，尽管一些球员提出抗议，洛皮特吉仍被当场解雇。

There are two things to consider here: Was Lopetegui's behavior acceptable? And was Rubiales right to fire him, even if it ends up hurting Spain's chances at the World Cup?

这里有两件事需要考虑：洛彼得吉的行为是可以接受的吗？鲁比阿莱斯有权解雇他吗，即使最后有可能伤害西班牙的世界杯？

The answer to the first question is a simple "no."

第一个问题的答案很简单"不"。

It's not just the fact that, less than a month after committing to a new contract, Lopetegui and his agent -- the ubiquitous Jorge Mendes -- were negotiating a deal with another employer. Stuff happens and, sure, the Madrid job is the sort of train that may pass only once in a lifetime.

这不仅仅是，在订新合同不到一个月之后，洛皮特吉和他的代理人 -- -- 无所不在的Jorge Mendes -- -- 正在与另一个雇主谈判一项协议。当然，马德里工作是那种在一生中只穿一次的列车。

But what has to be galling to all concerned is that it was done in secret. Rubiales was never given the opportunity to make a counter-offer or even start thinking of a Plan B. He was told only when it was a .

但让所有有关方面都感到胆怯的是，鲁维亚莱斯从来没有机会提出反建议，甚至开始考虑B计划。

Would it have hurt Lopetegui to say: "Hey Luis, there's interest in me from Real Madrid, my agent is negotiating, it's the opportunity of a lifetime, don't worry I'll still be 100 percent committed to winning the World Cup with Spain"?

洛皮特吉会不会说：“嘿，路易斯，我有兴趣，来自皇家马德里，我的代理人正在谈判，那是一生的机会，别担心我会百分之百地致力于在西班牙赢得世界杯？”

Instead, his actions sent a clear message: Real Madrid are much bigger than Spain. It's the equivalent of saying yes to one prom date, getting a secret declaration of love from someone else and then telling your original date: "Hey, I'll dance with you but, after that, I'm with him/her. And not just that, there will be a public announcement in that regard."

相反，他的行为传递了一个明确的信息：皇家马德里比西班牙大得多。这就好比是对一个舞会表示同意，从别人那里得到爱的秘密声明然后告诉你原来的约会：“嘿，我会和你跳舞，但是之后，我和他/她。不仅如此，在这方面将公开宣布。

Real Madrid might be a bigger and/or better gig, but the Spanish FA and the Spanish national team -- who, lest we forget, have won two European Championships and a World Cup in the past decade -- also have dignity. Rubiales refused to be a doormat and rightly so.

皇马可能更壮大或更好的演出了，但西班牙足联和西班牙国家队——恐怕我们忘记了，在过去十年里赢得了两场欧洲锦标赛和世界杯——也有尊严。鲁维亚莱斯拒绝做门垫,所以很正确.

Some, while appalled by Lopetegui's actions, argued that Rubiales should have sucked it up for the good of the team in the next month or so.

有些人，尽管对洛皮特吉的行为感到震惊，却认为鲁维亚莱斯应该在下个月左右为球队的利益而吸纳它。

They're wrong.

他们错了。

First, it's not as if Lopetegui is being replaced by the janitor. Fernando Hierro, who has been part of the national team set-up for years, comes in to take his place and work with the squad. When it comes to experience, charisma and relationships with the senior players, there is no drop-off.

首先，这并非像洛皮特吉被几年来组建的全国队成员Fernando Hierro的看守所代替了，而是要代替洛皮特吉，与队伍一起工作。当涉及到经验、魅力以及与高级球员的关系时，并没有脱节。

Then there's the fact that this situation is nothing like others in the past, such as Antonio Conte in 2016 with Italy or Louis Van Gaal two years earlier with Netherlands. Not only were their futures sorted out well before a major tournament, in both cases they were leaving to join teams -- Chelsea and Manchester United respectively -- in other countries, with entirely new sets of players. There's no comparison with Spain and the age-old, duopolistic rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona.

接下来，事实是，这种情况与过去没有什么相似之处，比如2016年与意大利的Antonio Conte或两年前与荷兰的Louis Van Gaal交流的情况。不仅他们的期货在主要锦标赛之前就分得一清二楚，在这两次比赛中，他们都离开球队，分别在切尔西和曼彻斯特联队，而在别的国家，他们拥有全新球员。与西班牙和皇马和巴塞罗那老一辈的政局竞争没有比较。

Everything would be analyzed via this lens, particularly by the hyper-partisan local press in Madrid and Barcelona and particularly after a poor result or performance. You can see it now: Was Lopetegui distracted because, rather than studying Iran's right-back, he was on the phone to Florentino Perez talking about Gareth Bale? Did he send on Marco Asensio instead of Rodrigo to keep him happy? Is he trying to extract secrets about Ernesto Valverde's tactics from Jordi Alba and Gerard Pique?

所有一切都将通过这个透镜来分析，特别是通过马德里和巴塞罗那超党派的当地报刊来分析，特别是在结果或表现不佳之后。现在你能看见：洛皮特吉是不是因为不是研究伊朗的右后卫，而是在电话里到弗洛伦蒂诺·佩雷斯谈论加雷思·巴尔？他是不是罗德里戈去接马科·阿斯涅罗吗？他是否试图从乔迪·阿尔巴和杰拉尔德·皮克身上提取有关埃内斯托·阀门的策略的秘密？

Such questions might be nonsense, but nonsense often makes it into public chatter and that can be enough to destabilize a team. Spain has spent much of its history with a polarized national side, only for Herculean efforts from a generation of players -- led by Iker Casillas and Xavi -- to finally restore unity, put  first and deliver major trophies.

这样的问题可能是胡说八道，但是胡说八道，常常引起公众的议论，足以动摇一个团队。西班牙在历史上大部分时间都以国家两极化的方式度过，只有艾克尔·卡西拉克和泽维领导的一代人的努力才能最终恢复团结，首先创造并交付重大奖杯。

Keeping Lopetegui around in these circumstances would have jeopardized all that, probably more than letting him go. And that's before you get into the basic principle that a club side -- even Real Madrid -- cannot be seen to be taking precedence over the national team. Not by a national association, anyway.

在这样的环境下保持洛皮特会危及这一切，也许不仅仅是放任他离开。而在进入俱乐部这一基本原则之前，俱乐部一方，即使是皇马，也不能被视为优先于国家队，而不是全国联盟。