如果世界杯是真的世界大戰(zhàn)，結(jié)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(gè)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(guó)間發(fā)生戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)會(huì)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(duì)這32個(gè)參賽國(guó)家，我們來比較一下各國(guó)在2010年的軍隊(duì)規(guī)模、最新軍事開支，以及軍費(fèi)占國(guó)內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值的比例，看看哪些擁有最天才球員的國(guó)家也擁有最強(qiáng)大的軍事實(shí)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(guó)隊(duì)在16進(jìn)8的比賽中失利，但美國(guó)軍隊(duì)可輕易贏得“戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)”世界杯，這一點(diǎn)絲毫不令人吃驚。事實(shí)上，根據(jù)國(guó)際戰(zhàn)略研究所(International Institute of Strategic Studies)提供的數(shù)據(jù)，美國(guó)與斯洛文尼亞會(huì)是“戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)”世界杯比賽中實(shí)力最不匹配的一對(duì)敵手。即便是在美國(guó)隊(duì)和斯洛文尼亞隊(duì)進(jìn)行世界杯小組賽時(shí)吹出昏哨的主裁判庫(kù)利巴利(Koman Coulibaly)，也清楚斯洛文尼亞只有七千名士兵的軍隊(duì)在美國(guó)150萬大軍面前會(huì)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(zhēng)”世界杯，也會(huì)出現(xiàn)一些令人大感意外的比賽結(jié)果。小組賽中希臘隊(duì)?wèi)?yīng)可取代阿根廷出線，澳大利亞隊(duì)本可淘汰掉加納隊(duì)，這樣加納就沒有機(jī)會(huì)打敗美國(guó)了。英國(guó)隊(duì)?wèi)?zhàn)勝德國(guó)隊(duì)會(huì)凸顯淘汰賽的激烈性，而朝鮮也將會(huì)進(jìn)入淘汰賽。朝鮮在“戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)”世界杯比賽中最具不確定性，因?yàn)槌r未曾公開過軍費(fèi)開支，但它的軍隊(duì)數(shù)量卻在參賽國(guó)中居第二。我們認(rèn)為意大利最終會(huì)打敗朝鮮，與美國(guó)、巴西及韓國(guó)進(jìn)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(yùn)的是，在真實(shí)世界杯的八分之一決賽中，美國(guó)被加納淘汰出局，盡管加納的軍事實(shí)力不強(qiáng)。因此，如果南非世界杯八強(qiáng)間發(fā)生戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)，我們認(rèn)為烏拉圭、巴西、德國(guó)及西班牙會(huì)進(jìn)入半決賽，擁有32.8萬軍隊(duì)的巴西將擊敗軍費(fèi)預(yù)算達(dá)470億美元的德國(guó)。事實(shí)上，在世界杯足球賽中，這一結(jié)果也沒什么不可思議的。