世界杯球队身价几许？

 How Much Are These Teams Worth?

It's not enough that, in terms of raw soccer talent, Spain may be twice as good as Paraguay, its quarterfinal opponent Saturday. It turns out the Spanish players are also worth about 10 times as much as the Paraguayans.
纯粹按踢足球的才能衡量，西班牙可能比周六世界杯四分之一决赛中的对手巴拉圭要强一倍。不过这可能还不够，要知道，西班牙球员的身价可是巴拉圭球员的约10倍。

With five players valued at more than $60 million each, Spain's players on average are worth a World Cup-high $38 million on the soccer-transfer market. That's easily the most in the tournament, according to Transfermarkt.co.uk, a website that uses factors such as player performance and marketing potential to approximate transfer-market values for every top player in the world. The second-most-valuable team, England, has players valued at an average of $27.6 million. The U.S. is 25th at $3.4 million, while North Korea and New Zealand are lowest at $637,000 and $788,000, respectively.
在足球转会市场上，西班牙队中有五名球员身价都在6,000万美元以上，全队的平均身价为3,800万美元，为世界杯参赛球队中最高的。据Transfermarkt.co.uk网站说，这个身价在联赛中远远排在第一。该网站利用球员表现和市场潜力等因素来估算世界上每个顶尖球员的转会市场价值。身价第二的球队是英格兰队，球员平均身价为2,760万美元。美国则排在第25位，平均身价340万美元；而朝鲜排在倒数第一，平均身价63.7万美元；新西兰排在倒数第二，平均身价78.8万美元。

Paraguay clocks in at a meager $3.8 million player average -- its most valuable players, Oscar Cardozo ($16.8 million) and Lucas Barrios ($14.8 million), are the only ones worth more than Spain's cheapest, substitute defender Carlos Marchena ($10.8 million). The most expensive Spaniard is midfielder Xavi Hernandez, valued at $87.4 million, and the tournament's most valuable is Argentina's Lionel Messi, who's worth $107.6 million.
巴拉圭球员平均身价只有可怜的380万美元，“最有价值球员”卡多索(Oscar Cardozo，身价1,680万美元)和巴里奥斯(Lucas Barrios，身价1,480万美元)也只是仅有的两个身价高于西班牙队中身价最低的球员、替补后卫马切纳(Carlos Marchena，身价1,080万美元)的人。西班牙队中最有价值的是中场球员哈维•赫尔南德斯(Xavi Hernandez)，身价8,740万美元，联赛最有价值球员是阿根廷的梅西(Lionel Messi)，身价1.076亿美元。

The underlying message is that the World Cup is no place for Cinderellas. Among the eight teams left, five are in the top 10 in terms of market value, and six of the bottom-seven teams made it out of the opening round. Maybe the Yankees should take a shot at this soccer thing.
这其中暗含的信息是世界杯不是为灰姑娘们准备的。在八强中，有五支球队位列市场价值最高的10支球队之列，价值最低的七支球队中有六支在小组赛中没能出线。或许美国人应该在足球上试试运气。