Duke athletes hail from far and wide—including several countries currently competing in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. This is part two in a running series.
Charles Marquardt, who is a fencer, is a rising sophomore from Windsor, Great Britain. His team—England—was last seen limping to a 0-0 draw with Slovenia. This abbreviated transcript comes from a phone interview conducted after the 1-1 tie with the United States. The questions are in bold.
The English fans and media are known for overhyping the World Cup. That the case this year?
There's a huge hype this year compared to other years. There's big expectations for some reason. The country always expects us to do well.... Some years it's over-hyped, and I think it might be one of those years this year.
What are your thoughts on Robert Green? It seems like some in your home country are making him out to be the worst person on the planet.
He is the worst person on the planet [laughs]. There's been excuses made about the ball, which are just ridiculous. [Tim] Howard made amazing saves, but Green couldn't make that one.... He's inexperienced on the major level. In the run-up, it was really close about who should be the goalie, and David James has that experience.
If England underperforms this year, will there be a major change with the team?
I don't think so. A lot of our players aren't too old. So we have continuity on the team. We should be okay, just keep plugging on.
You have a pick for who will win it all?
I don't know... I think Brazil will probably screw up again. And France has serious issues.... I guess Germany could do surprisingly well.... If [England] can pull it together, play really well like they can, we could get through the quarterfinals and make a run at it.
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