For a certain kind of football snob, the perfect game ends nil-nil with not even a goalscoring chance. The players are distributed, and their movements co-ordinated, to reduce space on the grass for individual flair. This ideal of tactical rigour is hard to achieve in three dimensions, but the 1994 World Cup final in Pasadena was a masterclass of mutual nullification. As the US prepares to host again, it will be dreading a repeat of those 120 scoreless minutes.
对某种类型的自诩为足球行家的人来说，最完美的比赛就是一场零比零，甚至连一次得分良机都没有。球员在场上的站位和协同跑动，都是为了压缩草皮上的活动空间，抑制个人天赋的发挥。要在三维空间里把这种战术严谨的理想贯彻到极致并不容易，但在帕萨迪纳举行的1994年世界杯决赛就是一堂相互牵制的经典课。如今美国正准备再次成为东道主，自然会担心重演那120分钟颗粒无收的闷局。
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