如果世界杯是真的世界大戰(zhàn)，結果如何？

If The World Cup Were An Actual War...

We all know how the soccer has turned out, but here's a macabre and slightly irresponsible question: What would happen if the nations in the World Cup went to war instead?
我們大家都清楚足球是怎么回事兒，但有個令人毛骨悚然而又有些不靠譜的問題：如果參加世界杯的各國間發(fā)生戰(zhàn)爭會怎么樣？

For the 32 qualifying countries, we compared the size of their armed forces in 2010, the most recent data on their military expenditures and the percentage of their gross domestic product devoted to military spending-- all to determine which nations with the most soccer talent also have the most potent armed forces.
對這32個參賽國家，我們來比較一下各國在2010年的軍隊規(guī)模、最新軍事開支，以及軍費占國內生產總值的比例，看看哪些擁有最天才球員的國家也擁有最強大的軍事實力。

The U.S. team bowed out in the round of 16, but not surprisingly, the U.S. military would easily win the Warfare Cup. In fact, the U.S. contest against Slovenia would have been the biggest mismatch of the tournament, according to data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Even Koman Coulibaly, the disgraced referee of that early match, could see that Slovenia's 7,000 troops would surrender quickly to the U.S.'s 1.5 million.
美國隊在16進8的比賽中失利，但美國軍隊可輕易贏得“戰(zhàn)爭”世界杯，這一點絲毫不令人吃驚。事實上，根據(jù)國際戰(zhàn)略研究所(International Institute of Strategic Studies)提供的數(shù)據(jù)，美國與斯洛文尼亞會是“戰(zhàn)爭”世界杯比賽中實力最不匹配的一對敵手。即便是在美國隊和斯洛文尼亞隊進行世界杯小組賽時吹出昏哨的主裁判庫利巴利(Koman Coulibaly)，也清楚斯洛文尼亞只有七千名士兵的軍隊在美國150萬大軍面前會不堪一擊。

But there were several stunners in group play. The Greeks would advance instead of Argentina, and Australia would have eliminated Ghana before it had a chance to beat the U.S. An English win over Germany highlighted the fierce battles in the knockout rounds, which also led to the emergence of North Korea, which is the biggest wild card of the tournament because it doesn't reveal its expenditures but has the second-most troops. In the end, we gave Italy the nod over the North Koreans, putting the Azzurri in the final four with the U.S., Brazil and South Korea.
但如果換成“戰(zhàn)爭”世界杯，也會出現(xiàn)一些令人大感意外的比賽結果。小組賽中希臘隊應可取代阿根廷出線，澳大利亞隊本可淘汰掉加納隊，這樣加納就沒有機會打敗美國了。英國隊戰(zhàn)勝德國隊會凸顯淘汰賽的激烈性，而朝鮮也將會進入淘汰賽。朝鮮在“戰(zhàn)爭”世界杯比賽中最具不確定性，因為朝鮮未曾公開過軍費開支，但它的軍隊數(shù)量卻在參賽國中居第二。我們認為意大利最終會打敗朝鮮，與美國、巴西及韓國進入半決賽。

Fortunately for the remaining eight teams -- in the actual World Cup, that is -- the U.S. was knocked out by Ghana, despite its military disadvantage. So if the remaining countries took to combat, we'd have Uruguay, Brazil, Germany and Spain in the semifinal, with Brazil and its 328,000 troops topping Germany's $47 billion military budget. Actually, when it comes to the real thing, that result doesn't sound all that preposterous.
幸運的是，在真實世界杯的八分之一決賽中，美國被加納淘汰出局，盡管加納的軍事實力不強。因此，如果南非世界杯八強間發(fā)生戰(zhàn)爭，我們認為烏拉圭、巴西、德國及西班牙會進入半決賽，擁有32.8萬軍隊的巴西將擊敗軍費預算達470億美元的德國。事實上，在世界杯足球賽中，這一結果也沒什么不可思議的。