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.

意大利曾分别在1934年和1938年赢得世界杯，是时间跨度最长的卫冕冠军，但在历经12年后的1950年，他们才迎来又一届世界杯。

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.

在开赛前一年发生的苏佩尔加山空难中，意大利国家队的一些队员罹难，其实力也因此被削弱，卫冕冠军甚至都对参加决赛圈的比赛失去了兴趣。

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

经劝说他们决定前往巴西，不过是乘船而不是乘飞机去的。

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.

他们以2:3输给了瑞典队，之后以2:0战胜了巴拉圭队，但这还不够，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，巴西队在决赛中以3:1击败捷克斯洛伐克，赢得了自己的第二个世界杯冠军。但在1966年英国世界杯上，未能从小组出线，尽管在第一场比赛中涌现出了新星贝利和加林查，以2:0击败了保加利亚队。

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

贝利在那场比赛中受伤，让胜利打了折扣，他也因此错过了第二场比赛，比赛中巴西队以1:3输给了匈牙利队。

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

贝利在至关重要的第三场对葡萄牙的比赛中康复并出任首发，他的队友加林查在比赛中被驱逐出场。

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.

没有了这两位巨星的组合，巴西队被尤西比奥领衔的葡萄牙队轻松击败。维森特·费奥拉的球队因此出局。

France 2002

法国（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年世界杯决赛中击溃巴西队后，法国以最糟糕的状态开始了接下来的世界杯赛。初次亮相世界杯赛场的塞内加尔造就了世界杯开幕战最的冷门之一，在这场令人震惊的比赛中1:0战胜法国，迪奥普攻入了唯一进球。

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组的第二场比赛中，法国队没有找到击败乌拉圭的办法，以0:0结束比赛。著名前锋亨利在比赛中被罚下场更是雪上加霜。

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输给丹麦队后，法国队仅仅在三场比赛过后就被宣告出局。他们一球未进，创造了历届世界杯卫冕冠军表现最糟糕的记录。

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年戏剧性通过点球决战在决赛中战胜法国四年后，阵容整齐的意大利飞往南非，期待卫冕。

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

他们被分在了一个看似轻松的小组，对手分别是巴拉圭、新西兰和斯洛文尼亚。专家们均认为意大利轻松挺进淘汰赛。

How wrong they were.

可是他们都大错特错了。

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兰1:1逼平后，他们在小组赛最后一场比赛中以2:3输给了斯洛伐克队，成为第三支在第一轮就被淘汰出局的卫冕冠军。

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.

卡西利亚斯和两名中后卫拉莫斯及皮克看上去似乎从未在一起踢过球，更不用说还一起夺得过一个世界杯冠军和两个欧洲杯冠军了。

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.

在对智利的第二场小组赛中，博斯克作出了两个变化，但无济于事。巴塞罗那的皮克和哈维被拜仁替补马丁内斯和他们的俱乐部队友佩德罗所取代。

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.

那不勒斯前锋巴尔加斯在第19分钟为智利队攻入一球，之后查尔斯·阿兰奎斯（Charles Aranguiz）再进一球，在上半场结束前3分钟将领先优势扩大为两球。

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.

尽管在中场休息后托雷斯替补登场，但西班牙仍然很难创造出机会。这场失利让他们在小组赛还剩一轮的情况下黯然出局。

（译者 非石头 编辑 齐磊）