Suburban World Cup fans on their native countries' chances
With the United States out of the World Cup this year, here's what some foreign-born suburban soccer fans said about their teams's chances.
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Adam Howarth of Schaumburg, director of coaching for Illinois Youth Soccer, on England:
"My thought would be, 'cautiously optimistic.' They have some young players. It's a younger team. I think they could be pretty good. They've got some young talent that is coming through. But tournament soccer has been kind of a struggle for the English national team for the last few years, so we'll see. Maybe they will surprise us."
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Jose Fleita of Lake Zurich, director of coaching for Ela Soccer Club, on Argentina:
"I always believe that Argentina, Brazil and Germany are the three countries that, regardless of who the coach is or what kind of players they have, they are always the candidate to be in the top four. This is the last chance for (star forward Lionel) Messi to do something great for Argentina, especially with all the success he has had with his club, Barcelona."
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Eloisa Alinkas of Cary, assistant coach for Judson University's women's soccer team, on Spain:
"I think we have a pretty good team. A young and at the same time very experienced team. They have been working really hard for the last few years to get where they are. There was the drama of firing the coach (and hiring a new one) two days from the first game, but I still think the players will handle it pretty well. ... I think we have good chances to be in the final."
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Mostafa Edders of Darien, girls' head coach for the development academy of FC United Soccer Club, on Morocco:
"I think we will go to the second round. ... It's all going to depend on the first game (against Iran), if we win or not. This is our fifth time in the World Cup. We do very well against Portugal. Spain this year is going to have problems with their coach, and we think it's going to play in our favor. I believe we will be in second place (in the group phase)."