2007年11月23日 英国零售业将因英格兰足球队失利大受打击

周三在伦敦温布利体育馆，克罗地亚替补球员距离球门25码处的破门，终结了英格兰入围2008年欧锦赛决赛阶段比赛的希望，所有英国公司的董事会都将感受到这种影响。

The Croatian substitute’s 25-yard winner at London’s Wembley Stadium on Wednesday, which ended England’s hopes of reaching the Euro 2008 football championships, will be felt across British boardrooms.

对于英国零售商、出版商和酒吧来说，在明年夏季如此盛大的足球赛事中，没有一支本土球队参赛可能会非常痛苦。

For UK retailers, bookmakers and pubs, not having a single home nation in such a big football tournament next summer could be painful.

英格兰队糟糕的表现将令披萨外卖公司和电子企业感到失望，它们原本指望从球迷的爱国热潮中获利，而海底隧道列车“欧洲之星”(Eurostar)、渡轮运营商和低成本航空公司对于英国和爱尔兰球迷将大量涌入主办国奥地利和瑞士的希望可能也将落空。

England’s abject performance will disappoint pizza delivery companies and electronic companies which had hoped to ride the wave of patriotic support, while Eurostar, ferry operators and low-cost airlines can abandon hopes for a mass invasion of Austria and Switzerland, the host countries, by British and Irish supporters.

与数百万英格兰球迷一样，这些公司的一些员工也会咒骂国家队队员，然后将此事抛诸脑后，继续照常生活。不过，运动品零售商昨日宣称它们是最大的输家，并急于迅速摆脱不利消息的影响。

Like millions of England fans, some of these companies will curse the national footballers, get over it and move on. Yesterday, however, sports retailers declared themselves the biggest losers and rushed to get the bad news out quickly.