Italy 1950

意大利（1950年）

The Italians were the long-standing defending champions, having won the World Cup in 1934 and 1938 - with a 12-year gap until the next tournament in 1950.

意大利曾分別在1934年和1938年贏得世界杯，是時(shí)間跨度最長(zhǎng)的衛(wèi)冕冠軍，但在歷經(jīng)12年后的1950年，他們才迎來(lái)又一屆世界杯。

Their national team was weakened with some of the side sadly dying in the Superga air disaster a year before the start of the tournament and the champions were not keen to attend the finals.

在開(kāi)賽前一年發(fā)生的蘇佩爾加山空難中，意大利國(guó)家隊(duì)的一些隊(duì)員罹難，其實(shí)力也因此被削弱，衛(wèi)冕冠軍甚至都對(duì)參加決賽圈的比賽失去了興趣。

After some persuasion they travelled to Brazil, but by boat rather than plane.

經(jīng)勸說(shuō)他們決定前往巴西，不過(guò)是乘船而不是乘飛機(jī)去的。

They lost 3-2 to Sweden before beating Paraguay 2-0 but it wasn't enough and the Italians were on their way home - again by boat.

他們以2:3輸給了瑞典隊(duì)，之后以2:0戰(zhàn)勝了巴拉圭隊(duì)，但這還不夠，意大利人打道回府了——又是乘船回去的。

Brazil 1966

巴西（1966年）

The Selecao won their second World Cup in 1962, beating Czechoslovakia 3-1 in the final, but failed to clear the first stage at the following tournament in England, despite a star showing from Pele and Garrincha in their opening 2-0 victory over Bulgaria.1962年，巴西隊(duì)在決賽中以3:1擊敗捷克斯洛伐克，贏得了自己的第二個(gè)世界杯冠軍。但在1966年英國(guó)世界杯上，未能從小組出線(xiàn)，盡管在第一場(chǎng)比賽中涌現(xiàn)出了新星貝利和加林查，以2:0擊敗了保加利亞隊(duì)。

That win was marred by an injury to Pele, and the forward missed their second match, a 3-1 defeat to Hungary.

貝利在那場(chǎng)比賽中受傷，讓勝利打了折扣，他也因此錯(cuò)過(guò)了第二場(chǎng)比賽，比賽中巴西隊(duì)以1:3輸給了匈牙利隊(duì)。

He recovered to start in the third and all-important game against Portugal, only for sidekick Garrincha to be ruled out.

貝利在至關(guān)重要的第三場(chǎng)對(duì)葡萄牙的比賽中康復(fù)并出任首發(fā)，他的隊(duì)友加林查在比賽中被驅(qū)逐出場(chǎng)。

Without the two working in tandem Brazil were easily beaten by a Portugal side inspired by Eusebio and with that Vicente Feola’s side were out.

沒(méi)有了這兩位巨星的組合，巴西隊(duì)被尤西比奧領(lǐng)銜的葡萄牙隊(duì)輕松擊敗。維森特·費(fèi)奧拉的球隊(duì)因此出局。

France 2002

法國(guó)（2002年）

After thrashing Brazil in the 1998 final in front of their own fans in Paris, France began the following tournament in the worst possible fashion.

Tournament debutants Senegal pulled off one of the biggest World Cup upsets ever in the opening match, as Papa Bouba Diop scored in a shock 1-0 victory over Les Bleus.

在1998年世界杯決賽中擊潰巴西隊(duì)后，法國(guó)以最糟糕的狀態(tài)開(kāi)始了接下來(lái)的世界杯賽。初次亮相世界杯賽場(chǎng)的塞內(nèi)加爾造就了世界杯開(kāi)幕戰(zhàn)最的冷門(mén)之一，在這場(chǎng)令人震驚的比賽中1:0戰(zhàn)勝法國(guó)，迪奧普攻入了唯一進(jìn)球。

In their second Group A match, France failed to find a way past Uruguay, with the game finishing 0-0. The holders’ star striker Thierry Henry was sent off in that game to compound their misery.

在A組的第二場(chǎng)比賽中，法國(guó)隊(duì)沒(méi)有找到擊敗烏拉圭的辦法，以0:0結(jié)束比賽。著名前鋒亨利在比賽中被罰下場(chǎng)更是雪上加霜。

A limp 2-0 defeat to Denmark sent France crashing out after just three games. Their failure to score a single goal earned them the record of worst ever World Cup performance by a defending champion.

以0:2輸給丹麥隊(duì)后，法國(guó)隊(duì)僅僅在三場(chǎng)比賽過(guò)后就被宣告出局。他們一球未進(jìn)，創(chuàng)造了歷屆世界杯衛(wèi)冕冠軍表現(xiàn)最糟糕的記錄。

Italy 2010

意大利（2010年）

Four years on from the drama of their penalty shootout win in the 2006 final against France, Italy flew to South Africa with a strong squad intent on defending their crown.

在2006年戲劇性通過(guò)點(diǎn)球決戰(zhàn)在決賽中戰(zhàn)勝法國(guó)四年后，陣容整齊的意大利飛往南非，期待衛(wèi)冕。

Drawn in a seemingly easy group with Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia, pundits tipped Italy to saunter into the knockout stages.

他們被分在了一個(gè)看似輕松的小組，對(duì)手分別是巴拉圭、新西蘭和斯洛文尼亞。專(zhuān)家們均認(rèn)為意大利輕松挺進(jìn)淘汰賽。

How wrong they were.

可是他們都大錯(cuò)特錯(cuò)了。

After being held to 1-1 draws by Paraguay and New Zealand, they lost 3-2 in their final group game to Slovakia, becoming the third nation to be eliminated in the first round as reigning champions.

在先后被巴拉圭和新西蘭1:1逼平后，他們?cè)谛〗M賽最后一場(chǎng)比賽中以2:3輸給了斯洛伐克隊(duì)，成為第三支在第一輪就被淘汰出局的衛(wèi)冕冠軍。

Spain 2014

西班牙（2014年）

Casillas and the centre-back pairing of Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique looked like they had never met before, let alone won a World Cup and two European championships together.

卡西利亞斯和兩名中后衛(wèi)拉莫斯及皮克看上去似乎從未在一起踢過(guò)球，更不用說(shuō)還一起奪得過(guò)一個(gè)世界杯冠軍和兩個(gè)歐洲杯冠軍了。

Vicente Del Bosque made two changes for their second group game against Chile, not that it helped. Barcelona pair Gerard Pique and Xavi were replaced by Bayern Munich utility man Javi Martinez and their speedy club teammate Pedro.

在對(duì)智利的第二場(chǎng)小組賽中，博斯克作出了兩個(gè)變化，但無(wú)濟(jì)于事。巴塞羅那的皮克和哈維被拜仁替補(bǔ)馬丁內(nèi)斯和他們的俱樂(lè)部隊(duì)友佩德羅所取代。

Napoli forward Eduardo Vargas gave Jorge Sampaoli’s side a deserved lead with a calm finish in the 19th minute, before an improvised Charles Aranguiz toe-poke doubled their lead three minutes before the break.

那不勒斯前鋒巴爾加斯在第19分鐘為智利隊(duì)攻入一球，之后查爾斯·阿蘭奎斯（Charles Aranguiz）再進(jìn)一球，在上半場(chǎng)結(jié)束前3分鐘將領(lǐng)先優(yōu)勢(shì)擴(kuò)大為兩球。

Despite bringing Fernando Torres on after the break Spain still struggled to create chances, and the defeat dumped them out of the World Cup with one round of group stage matches still to play.

盡管在中場(chǎng)休息后托雷斯替補(bǔ)登場(chǎng)，但西班牙仍然很難創(chuàng)造出機(jī)會(huì)。這場(chǎng)失利讓他們?cè)谛〗M賽還剩一輪的情況下黯然出局。

（譯者 非石頭 編輯 齊磊）