Americans will be familiar with 101 as it is the designation for introductory courses in the American college system. So for those that haven't noticed, the World Cup starts in 2 days in Brazil, though because of the time difference, it is not Thursday but Friday 13th in early morning in China. So here is a quick primer to get those, who have not been focused, up to speed.

美国人都非常熟悉101，因为在美国大学体系中它是基础入门的代称。但是有些东西美国人并不太不熟悉，比如说将于两天后在巴西举行的世界杯。由于时差原因，巴西世界杯开始时中国时间正好是13号，星期五早晨。所以现在大家也应该了解了解最新情况了。

This is the 20th World Cup, with the first held in 1930 and every 4 years, but there was a gap during World War 2. The first one was also held in South America and Uruguay, as hosts, beat Argentina. Brazil has hosted once before in 1950 , where they lost in the final to Uruguay. Brazil has however won the trophy a record 5 times and is the favourite with the bookmakers to do so this time.

世界杯首创于1930年，每四年一次，二战期间暂停，所以此次是第二十届世界杯。首届世界杯在南美的乌拉圭举行，主办方乌拉圭打败了强敌阿根廷夺得了冠军。巴西曾在1950年举办过世界杯，但是在决赛中惨败乌拉圭，无缘冠军。从世界杯创办以来，巴西先后夺得5次冠军，本届也是夺冠的热门球队。

The tournament will run for a month, from Thursday 12 June (Brazil timezones), when Brazil play Croatia in San Paulo in the opening game to Sunday 13 July, when the Final is played in Rio. The 32 teams that reached Brazil, will play, according to group allocated, in some of the 12 stadiums assigned games, which encompass two time zones. China is 12 hours ahead of, for example, Manaus and Cuiaba and 11 hours ahead of, for example, Rio and San Paulo. The opening game will kick off at 5 pm this Thursday in San Paulo, and this will be 4 am on Friday in China. It will be challenging to watch live in China on TV, though a variety of bars around the nation will stay open for the live coverage.

本届世界杯持续一个月，从六月十二号 ，星期四（巴西时间）在圣保罗举行的巴西对克罗地亚第一场比赛开始，直至七月十三号在里约热内卢举办决赛结束。根据先前的小组分配，抵达巴西的32支队伍将在巴西境内12个大型露天体育馆举行比赛，这些体育馆跨越了两个时区。例如中国比巴西的玛瑙斯和库亚巴早12个小时，但是却比里约热内卢和圣保罗早11个小时。第一场比赛将于本周四的下午五点在圣保罗举行，也就是中国的周五早上四点。尽管中国的众多球迷都将声称一定会观看比赛直播，但是仍旧困难重重。

The 32 teams are divided into 8 groups (A to H) each thus containing 4 teams. Each team in a group plays each of the other teams once, thus there is a guarantee of at least 3 games for all teams and each group sees 6 matches. History shows that a team can be undefeated in these opening three games yet not progress. The top two teams in a group do progress to the round of 16 which is on a knock out basis, with the winners in that round progressing to the Quarter Final, then to the Semi-final and to the Final. The losing semi-finalists also play off for 3rd place.

这32支球队将从A到H被分为八组，每组四支球队。各组内每支球队分别和其它三个球队进行比赛，这就保证了所有参赛球队至少可以参加三场比赛，每组比赛六场。从以前的比赛规则来看，每支球队在起初的三场比赛都不会被淘汰。每组分数较高的两支球队将依照规则进入16强，然后两两之间继续比赛，获胜的球队将进入四分之一决赛，然后继续比赛直至半决赛和决赛。半决赛失败的两支队伍将争夺第三名。

The membership of the 8 groups is:

A: Brazil, Croatia, Mexico, Cameroon

B: Spain, Netherlands, Chile, Australia

C: Columbia, Greece, Core d'ivoire, Japan

D: Uruguay, Costa Rica, England, Italy

E: Switzerland, Ecuador, France, Honduras

F: Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina Iran, Nigeria

G: Germany, Portugal, Ghana, USA

H: Belgium, Algeria, Russia, Korea Republic

以下是八个小组的各个球队：

A组：巴西，克罗地亚，墨西哥，喀麦隆。

B组：西班牙，荷兰，智利，澳大利亚。

C组：哥伦比亚，希腊，科特迪瓦 ，日本

D组：乌拉圭，哥斯达黎加，英格兰，意大利。

E组：瑞士，厄瓜多尔，法国，洪都拉斯。

F组：阿根廷，波黑，伊朗，尼日利亚。

G组：德国，葡萄牙，加纳，美国。

H组：比利时，阿尔及利亚，俄罗斯，韩国。

While Brazil are the favourites, other South American clubs could pose a big threat, namely Argentina, Uruguay and perhaps Chile. They are better adjusted to the climate. Then there is the challenge from the current holders, Spain and historically strong European teams, including Germany, Italy, Netherlands and England Any pundit can suggest their 4 strongest teams, but that does not mean the semi-finals can be those four teams - some would meet before that stage.

尽管巴西是夺冠热队，不过其他的南美国家，比如阿根廷，乌拉圭，或者智利，也会对巴西构成不小威胁，因为这些球队队员能更好地适应当地气候。还有就是西班牙和传统欧洲强队德国，意大利，荷兰，英格兰等国对巴西夺冠的挑战。几乎每个对世界杯有过了解的人都会认为这四支队伍代表世界杯最强力量，但是这并不意味着半决赛会是这四支球队之间的较量，可能还会有别的球队进入半决赛。

It has been a long road qualifying to get to Brazil from countries that are members of the six Confederations that make up World Football and not all the top teams or top players made it. Few would argue that Lionel Messi (Argentina and Barcelona), Christian Ronaldo (Portugal and Real Madrid), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden and Paris Saint-Germain) and Gareth Bale (Wales and Barcelona) are among the best today. Yet you will not see two of these as Wales failed to get out of their qualifying group and Portugal and Sweden had to play off as best qualifying groups runners-up. Portugal made it but there are worries over Ronaldo's fitness and Messi has never performed well at a World Cup final tournament. Equally there are always new stars that emerge on this global stage.

通常都是六大足球联盟中的国家举办世界杯而不是那些顶尖球队或者球员们举办，所以为了从六大足球联盟中的国家脱颖而出，获得举办本届世界杯的资格，巴西所付出的努力可想而知。没有人质疑梅西（效力于巴塞罗那队的阿根廷人）、C罗（效力于皇家马德里的葡萄牙人）、伊布（效力于巴黎圣日尔曼队的瑞典人）、贝尔（来自皇马的威尔士人）是当今足坛最为闪耀的明星球员。但是后二位将无法出现在本届世界杯的赛场上。威尔士没能进入本届世界杯决赛圈。而瑞典队也在最后争夺附加赛资格上输给了葡萄牙，从而无缘世界杯决赛。尽管葡萄牙最终出线，但是C罗的健康状况将是他们成绩好环的关键因而也格外让人担忧。梅西在世界杯的决赛场上一直都状态不佳，这一届表现如何还是未知数。当然在世界杯这个大舞台上总会有新星不断涌现。

The 6 Confederations within FIFA

So how will it go this time? All will be revealed soon! Stay tuned!

本届世界杯战况如何？答案马上揭晓！尽请期待！

 

By ColinSpeakman

International Educator, Economist, goal of helping to increase understanding of China by the West

 

 

(Opinions of the writer in this blog don't represent those of China Daily.)