On the long voyage to World Cup triumph, Belgium and Uruguay are two icebergs that the favorites would rather avoid. Both nations, despite being underdogs in this year's tournament, have the ability and the nous to upset their bigger and brasher rivals. Yet it's remarkable, given their small size and history as geopolitical doormats, that they remain competitive at all.

據《外交政策》網站報道，在通往世界杯獎杯的漫漫征程中，比利時和烏拉圭是奪冠熱門球隊希望避開的兩座冰山。在今年的世界杯賽場上，盡管比利時和烏拉圭都是不起眼的小角色，但它們有能力讓比盲目自信的對手喝上一壺。雖然它們是歷史上的小國，地緣政治上的出氣筒，但很明顯，他們在足球場上仍然極具競爭力。

Belgium, for example, has less than a tenth of the population of Russia, its rival in the group stage, but is regarded as a far greater threat. And then there is Uruguay, which despite fewer than 4 million citizens -- barely a sixth of the population of greater S?o Paulo -- is one of the teams Brazil would least like to meet on its way to the final. How is this so?

例如比利時，它的人口不到小組賽對手俄羅斯的1/10，但被認為是一個巨大的威脅。而烏拉圭盡管人口還不到400萬——僅僅是大圣保羅人口的1/6——卻是巴西在通往決賽之路上最不想碰到的球隊之一。為何如此呢？

In Belgium's case, the reasons are more readily apparent. A nation sewn largely from a patchwork of three peoples, the Flemish, Walloons, and Germans, its football team nevertheless features several stars of African descent. Currently, Belgians of Moroccan descent -- including midfielder Marouane Fellaini and winger Nacer Chadli -- make up the biggest non-European group; for many Moroccans, French is a second language. Like France with its North African and Caribbean contingents and Germany with its Turks, Belgium's national team has benefited from multiple populations: one from Western Europe, one from Africa, and one from Eastern Europe.

拿比利時來說，理由更為顯而易見。該國人口主要由弗拉芒人、瓦隆人和日耳曼人組成，但國家足球隊中卻有數名非洲裔球星。目前，摩洛哥裔比利時人，包括中場費萊尼和邊鋒查德利——組成了最大的非歐洲小團體。就像法國隊內有北非和加勒比小分隊、德國隊中有土耳其裔球員一樣，比利時國家隊也從多元人口結構中受益：一個來自西歐，一個來自非洲，還有一個來自東歐。

Over time, this ethnic blend has led to an uncommon harmony among the current squad, whose young players -- notably Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku of Chelsea, and Adnan Januzaj 賈努扎伊of Manchester United -- are the envy of many of their competitors.

久而久之，這種民族融合給球隊帶了不同尋常的和諧。隊中的年輕球員，尤其是切爾西的阿扎爾和盧卡庫以及曼聯(lián)的賈努扎伊，成了許多競爭對手羨慕的對象。

Uruguay represents a more curious case, in that its players are footballing aristocracy disguised as minnows. Like Belgium, it is a relatively young nation, yet on the field of play the Uruguayans are old hands. They have won the World Cup twice, first at the inaugural event in 1930, and then in 1950, when Brazil hosted the tournament. The latter occasion, when Brazil succumbed in front of a world-record 200,000 fans or more, is referred to there as the "Maracanazo", a national tragedy still felt today.

烏拉圭代表了一個更令人感到好奇的例子，國家隊的球員是偽裝成小人物的足球貴族。像比利時一樣，這也是一個相對年輕的國家，但在賽場上它則是一名老手。他們曾兩次贏得世界杯，第一次是1930年首屆世界杯，第二次是在1950年，當時巴西是東道主。后來的那次被稱為“馬拉卡納之殤”，一場人們在今天依然還記得的國家悲劇，當時巴西在創(chuàng)世界記錄的20萬（或許更多）球迷面前被壓垮了。

Uruguay owes much of its success not just to its passion for football but also to the early inclusiveness of its culture. In that 1950 tournament, at a time when neighboring Brazil still regarded its black players with suspicion, Uruguay boasted a black captain, the brilliant Obdulio Varela. Moreover, Uruguay's victories in the World Cup's formative years established a pedigree that endures to this day, with many of its footballers -- such as Liverpool's Luis Suárez and Paris Saint-Germain's Edinson Cavani -- playing abroad for some of the world's biggest clubs.

烏拉圭之所以取得成功，不僅僅是因為它對足球的激情，還因為其早期文化的包容性。在1950年世界杯上，當時其鄰國巴西仍然對黑人球員心存懷疑，烏拉圭隊卻以擁有一位黑人隊長、杰出的巴雷拉而感到自豪。此外，烏拉圭在世界杯成型期的勝利造就了延續(xù)至今的血統(tǒng)，它的很多球員如今都在海外的一些世界豪門俱樂部踢球，如利物浦的蘇亞雷斯和巴黎圣日耳曼的卡瓦尼。

Belgium and Uruguay are two diminutive countries that have maximized their advantages through inclusiveness, and of which Brazil, Argentina, Spain and Germany -- the quartet of forerunners for this year's title -- will rightly be wary. They, in the manner of Brazil's indigenous mosquitos and scorpions, are a useful reminder that small can often be deadly.

比利時和烏拉圭這兩個袖珍之國因為包容性最大限度地增強了自己的實力，巴西、阿根廷、西班牙和德國這四個本屆杯賽的奪冠大熱門肯定會對他們特別小心。他們將會是有力的提醒，告訴世界小國家通常也能一擊致命，就像巴西本土的小動物蚊子和蝎子一樣。

（譯者 非石頭 編輯 齊磊）