華盛頓郵報-- 英格蘭 vs 比利時 - 世足

原文網址：https://reurl.cc/VajGQ

England vs. Belgium : When second place is better than first
當地時間am6：00

大家好，中午貼了Lukaku的新聞，剛剛又看到一篇，分享給各位
當然還是會翻譯一些重點
報導是由兩個人寫的，原文網址底下有提到
就當做參考文章吧

內文：
When the World Cup group schedule was first announced, England-Belgium looked like a potential contender for match of the tournament — a rollicking, high-scoring and group-deciding match on the final day of group play.

Well, the match will still decide the top two spots in Group G, just not in the manner we’d hoped. With both teams safely through to the round of 16, the stakes are far, far lower. To further diminish the potential entertainment value, both England and Belgium will likely be eyeing second place. Why? Just look at the bracket. The winner of Group G has a route to the finals that includes Brazil or Mexico in the quarterfinals then either Uruguay, Portugal, France or Argentina in the semifinals. Yeah, no
thanks. Meanwhile, the Group G runner-up faces either Sweden or Switzerland in the quarterfinals and then either Spain, Russia, Croatia or Denmark in the semifinals — a destination vacation by comparison.

At this point fans of Group H teams may take umbrage with the fact that these scenarios discount the round of 16, and while that is true, those teams are fairly comparable in talent and don’t carry the same matchup incentive as avoiding decidedly tougher teams in the later rounds. So let’s assume both teams are rational actors and want to finish second. Following FIFA’s tie-breaking rules, Belgium and England are not only tied on total points (six), but also goal difference in all group matches (six)
and goals scored (eight), the first tiebreakers FIFA uses to determine place in the group standings.

Here’s where it gets weird. The next tiebreaker is what FIFA deems “fair play,” meaning teams will lose points for yellow and red cards (minus-one for a yellow card; minus-three for an indirect red card, as a result of a second yellow card;inus-four for a direct red card; minus-five for a yellow card plus a direct red, with only one of the deductions applied to a player in a single game). So the worse they behave, the more likely they are to finish second.

Entering the match, England has two yellow cards and Belgium has three. Neither side has a red card. So we could be in store for a 0-0 tie with decidedly uninspiring attack play (think France-Denmark, but worse) and a lot of sloppy, cynical fouls, as both teams play their backups. There may even be a how-did-he-not-stop-that goal due to a suspiciously-timed goalkeeper gaffe.

If you’re a fan of sports anarchy, it’s appointment viewing. If you value the aesthetics of the beautiful game, you may want to find something more pleasant to do with your afternoon.

不負責任翻譯：

世界盃分組比賽宣布小組日程表時，比利時及英格蘭看起來在小組賽中很有競爭潛力，將會小組賽最後一場熱鬧、高比分與決定性的比賽

但是，這場比賽雖然會決定出小組的一二名，只是不是像我們想像的比賽。兩隊都確定晉級16強了，根本毫無風險可言。(應該這樣翻譯吧？)
兩隊都相中小組的第二名，勢必會降低比賽的娛樂性，為什麼呢？去看看樹狀圖，贏的都要碰上傳統強隊就不贅述，排第二還可以對陣相稍弱的隊伍，較有機會往上爬。

中間一段在講他們的積分，反正就是全同分，然後說明同分的情況下，要用球員紀律的算分方式來決定小組一二名。
大概如下
黃牌-1 兩黃牌換紅牌-3 直接紅-4 一黃直接紅-5
最後-5這個是很嚴重的犯規才會出現，
這段結尾提到他們表現的越糟糕，越有機會拿第二

英格蘭這邊已經有兩張黃牌；比利時則有三張，雙方沒有紅牌
而很有可能會上演一場0：0且毫無進攻熱情的比賽(可以想像法國丹麥那場，這場會更糟)，節奏也會相當散漫(sloppy)，充斥著犯規，同時兩隊也都會派候補選手上場，甚至守門員還可能在可疑的時間點犯下「你怎麼不去阻止那顆球！」的失誤。

最後一段大家可以看原文，翻給各位

如果你是運動狂熱者(sports anarchy其實我不知道怎麼翻)那還是可以看一下，但如果你追求有水準價值且精彩的比賽，那還是建議你找些愉快的事情去度過你的午後時光(報導是美國寫的，比賽時間是當地下午2點)

原文後面有雙方介紹我就不弄了，因為差不多就這樣，手機真難翻譯…

有誤麻煩大大鞭小力點囉！

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