Underdog days: the FIFA World Cup

https://espresso.economist.com/ad7fe02e59ae7d37c32f8dd238662d0d --
Dec 22nd 2018

Underdog days: the FIFA World Cup

• Underdog 处于劣势的人（或团队、国家等）；弱者；比赛前不被看好者
• FIFA 国际足联；国际足球联合会Fédération Internationale de Football Association (the international organization that controls the sport of football ( soccer ))

Rarely has the tournament had so many shocks.

• tournament 锦标赛；联赛

Croatia, with a population of just 4.2m, became the smallest country to reach the final in nearly 70 years.

England, a perennial laughingstock, reached the semis for the first time since Margaret Thatcher was in office.

• perennial 长久的；持续的；反复出现的；多年生的
• laughingstock 笑柄
• semi 半决赛
• in office 就任,上台

Mighty Brazil crashed out in the quarters, Spain in the first knockout round and Germany at the group stage.

• mighty 强而有力的；巨大的；非凡的
• crash out 淘汰
• in the quarters 四分之一赛
• in the first knockout round 首轮淘汰赛
• at the group stage 在小组赛阶段

Italy failed to qualify at all. The French, who eventually lifted the trophy, marvelled at how meekly the other recent champions fell.

• trophy 奖杯
• marvel 惊叹；对…觉得奇怪

But they should not expect such weak competition in Qatar in 2022.

Before this year’s tournament, The Economist analysed every international match since 1990.

We found a strong correlation between a country’s long-term footballing success and its enthusiasm, grassroots participation and resources for the sport.

• footballing 与足球比赛有关的
• grassroots 群众的

Though Brazil, Germany and Spain have had a bad patch, the data suggest that they will challenge fiercely for the title in years to come.

• patch 一段（艰难）岁月；一段（痛苦）日子
• in years to come 在未来的几年内；在将来