如果世界杯是真的世界大战，结果如何？

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?
我们大家都清楚足球是怎么回事儿，但有个令人毛骨悚然而又有些不靠谱的问题：如果参加世界杯的各国间发生战争会怎么样？

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.
对这32个参赛国家，我们来比较一下各国在2010年的军队规模、最新军事开支，以及军费占国内生产总值的比例，看看哪些拥有最天才球员的国家也拥有最强大的军事实力。

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.
美国队在16进8的比赛中失利，但美国军队可轻易赢得“战争”世界杯，这一点丝毫不令人吃惊。事实上，根据国际战略研究所(International Institute of Strategic Studies)提供的数据，美国与斯洛文尼亚会是“战争”世界杯比赛中实力最不匹配的一对敌手。即便是在美国队和斯洛文尼亚队进行世界杯小组赛时吹出昏哨的主裁判库利巴利(Koman Coulibaly)，也清楚斯洛文尼亚只有七千名士兵的军队在美国150万大军面前会不堪一击。

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.
但如果换成“战争”世界杯，也会出现一些令人大感意外的比赛结果。小组赛中希腊队应可取代阿根廷出线，澳大利亚队本可淘汰掉加纳队，这样加纳就没有机会打败美国了。英国队战胜德国队会凸显淘汰赛的激烈性，而朝鲜也将会进入淘汰赛。朝鲜在“战争”世界杯比赛中最具不确定性，因为朝鲜未曾公开过军费开支，但它的军队数量却在参赛国中居第二。我们认为意大利最终会打败朝鲜，与美国、巴西及韩国进入半决赛。

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.
幸运的是，在真实世界杯的八分之一决赛中，美国被加纳淘汰出局，尽管加纳的军事实力不强。因此，如果南非世界杯八强间发生战争，我们认为乌拉圭、巴西、德国及西班牙会进入半决赛，拥有32.8万军队的巴西将击败军费预算达470亿美元的德国。事实上，在世界杯足球赛中，这一结果也没什么不可思议的。