By Pablo Rodriguez

Campus Editor

“So far so good” is the phrase that best describes the group stage of the 2010 Federation of Association Football (FIFA) World Cup in South Africa.

Up to this point, most fans and spectators are content with the matches seen in the tournament.

Such is the case of Ben Johnson, a senior elementary education major at Eastern.

“In general yeah-I say there has been a lot of interesting games and surprises,” he said. “Some of the teams that you expected to kind of do well have been struggling and vice versa.”

Johnson’s favorite team is the United States and considers goalkeeper Tim Howard the best player.

Although the first two U.S. group games against England and Slovenia ended as draws, the U.S. advanced to the knockout stage by defeating Algeria 1-0 on Wednesday.

“I’m going to say Argentina against U.S.A.,” Johnson said about his thoughts on the final game. “The U.S.A. team has a great team, definitely a world class team. As long as we live up to our full potential, I don’t see why we wouldn’t come back with the World Cup.”

Weston Steinberg, a senior elementary education major, also supports the U.S. and has high expectations for the team.

“I love America-so I expect my team to take it far,” he said.

Dustin Tylman, a junior communications major, does not think the U.S. will go that far, so he has Brazil as a secondary team.

“I talked to all my friends who watch soccer, and yes we support the U.S. but we always had a secondary team since you can only hope for the U.S. for so far,” he said.

“For me, it has always been Brazil.”

Tylman said bad referee calls are the downfall of the group stage.

“One of the biggest disappointments so far is that there have been a lot of bad calls on the referees,” Tylman said.

A week ago, a referee disallowed a U.S. goal due to a nonexistent offside that would have given them a victory of 3-2 against Slovenia.

In another match Kaka, Brazil’s star player, got a red card for apparently hitting an Ivory Coast player in the face.

Adam Howarth, head coach of the men’s soccer team at Eastern, is not too impressed with the World Cup’s first stage. He thinks it will get more exciting when the knockout stage approaches.

“I think it has been OK,” he said. “I haven’t seen any truly fantastic goals-maybe a couple of nice ones, but you’re going to see this heat up in the next few days.”

Howarth has divided feelings between England and the U.S.

“I’m originally from England, so obviously I have very deep affection to the English team but I’m also an American citizen so I want them to do good as well,” he said. “England is where I was born, so that is who I’m always going to support.”

England’s performance in their first two games was not as expected. They tied both matches but 1-0 victory against Slovenia put them in the knockout stage.

Many fans attribute England’s performance to the absence of John Cole, a creative midfielder who was not put on the team by Fabio Capello, England’s head coach.

“Personally I think he should be playing-but I’m not Fabio Capello, I’m not making $9 million a year so he knows best,” Howarth said.

The knockout stage officially starts on Saturday, June 26 when Uruguay faces North Korea.

Pablo Rodriguez can be reached at 581-7942 or at jprodriguez@eiu.edu.1