As if there's not enough pressure on English soccer players to win in the World Cup -- they're one of the favorites, they haven't won the title in 44 years and, for goodness sake, they play the U.S. in their opener -- they've already set themselves up for trouble.


格兰足球队是世界杯中的热门球队之一，但已44年未登上冠军宝座，而且看在上帝份上，他们第一场比赛对阵美国队。然而他们赢得世界杯的压力彷佛还不够大，他们已经让自己准备好面对麻烦。



They've got a foreign coach.


他们请了个外籍教练。



No team in World Cup history has won the event with a coach who isn't a native of his team's country, and England is being led by Fabio Capello -- he's a well-respected coach, for sure, but an Italian. England isn't the only team dashing its own dreams, as host South Africa has a leader from Brazil, the sleeper Ivory Coast squad is coached by a Swede and 10 other teams have outsiders at the helm. But England is the only major power going this route, with Spain, Brazil, and Argentina all using natives.


在世界杯的历史上，没有一支队伍登上冠军宝座时其教练不是本国人。而目前执掌英格兰队帅印的卡佩罗(Fabio Capello)却是意大利人。当然，他是一名倍受尊敬的足球教练。英格兰队并不是唯一一支正在粉碎自己梦想的球队，主办国南非的主帅来自巴西，冷门科特迪瓦队的教练是瑞典人，另有10支球队亦由外国人执掌。但英格兰队是唯一一支走上此路的主要强队，西班牙、巴西和阿根廷队均由本国人执掌球队。



In the 232 World Cup matches where a native coach crossed paths with a foreigner, the natives have a .573 winning percentage and are 3-0 in title games, according to Phil Ploquin, who runs the soccer website ScoreShelf.com. After standardizing for the different formats the World Cup has used over the years, Mr. Ploquin has found that domestic coaches typically get a half-round further in the tournament than their foreign counterparts. This is partially because weak soccer countries are often forced to look outside their borders for good coaches.


运营足球网站ScoreShelf.com的普洛坎(Phil Ploquin)称，在232场本土教练对阵外籍教练的世界杯比赛中，本土教练率领球队赢得比赛的比例为57.3%，在头衔赛中为3-0。对世界杯多年来使用过的各种比赛格式进行标准化处理之后，普洛坎发现本土教练率领的球队通常能比外籍教练的球队在比赛中多前进半轮。这在一定程度上是因为足球力量较弱的国家常常不得不从境外寻找好教练。



The U.S., which has had seven domestic coaches in its eight previous World Cups, is led by American Bob Bradley. But don't bet on the Americans to win it all -- we didn't say homegrown coaches are miracle workers.


美国队之前曾八次打入世界杯，其中七次由本国教练率队，此次的主帅是美国人布拉德利(Bob Bradley)。但别押注美国队会赢得所有比赛，我们没说国产教练就能创造奇迹。



David Biderman