meaning of ”neck-and-nec”

Question

一篇有關美國連鎖企業沃爾瑪(Wal-Mart)將併購Trust-Mart的新聞報導...
以下是其中片段 :

The acquisition is likely to trigger an intense battle among foreign and domestic retailers to gain a strong foothold in the world’s fastest-growing economy.

The deal puts Wall-Mart "neck-and-neck" in China with Carrefour, the giant French retailer, which also bid for Trust-Mart. Wal-Mart, which has only 66 stores in China compared with Carrefour’s more than 200, outbid not only Carrefour, but also Tesco and one of China’s large retailer, Lianhua.

What does it mean here by "neck-and-neck"...?
It probably means 「龍頭對龍頭」?

Answer 1

賽馬時，馬匹跑在一起，馬頭攢動，難分上下，是「neck to neck」的由來。後來，一般引用為競爭狀態下，「不相上下/並駕齊驅/競爭激烈」 來看。在這裡，主要是說 Walmart 透過了併購 Trust-Mart 而取得了與 Carrefour 在中國市場上相抗衡的地位，也就是進入了「對等」的競爭地位。其後的激烈競爭可期。

2006-11-07 23:47:43 補充：
抱歉， [neck and neck/net to neck] 這兩者意思一樣，也常混用。

2006-11-08 01:07:41 補充：
neck to neck 以及 neck and neck... TYPO all the time, fat fingers are getting FATTER and FATTER.

Answer 2

形容競爭者之間的差距很小.neck-and-neck: 不分軒輊