On June 14, Greece and Colombia will open their respective campaigns against each other at the 60,000 seat Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Both teams are placed in Group C, along with Ivory Coast and Japan. Both Colombia and Greece will feel that they have a strong chance at reaching the Round of 16 as this is one of the easier World Cup groups.
Greece is led by Portuguese coach Fernando Santos and brings with it arguably the strongest defense within the entire group. Look for defender, Sokratis Papastathopolous, to lead Greece’s back four as he enjoyed a good campaign with German giants Borussia Dortmund. My player to watch out for on Greece, is veteran Giorgos Karagounis who currently plays his club football at Fulham and had captained his side at the 2012 European Championships. Greece comes into the World Cup fresh off of a 2-1 win over Bolivia and a 0-0 draw against a Ronaldo-less Portugal.
Colombia will be led by Argentine coach Jose Pekerman and should feel as though they are the favorites to come out top of this group. They had an excellent run through qualifying stages and are considered to be one of the strongest teams out of South America. The roster is bolstered with young talent despite the fact that star forward Radamel Falcao has officially been ruled out of the tournament. It will most likely be Porto’s Jackson Martinez and River Plate’s Teofilo Gutierrez who will have to make up for the injured superstar.
Though not a game that would headline any World Cup, it will surely be exciting and filled with action. The game is set to kick off at 12:00 PM EST and can be seen on ABC. For those who are not able to reach a TV, WatchESPN will be streaming all live games. Be sure to check in, as both teams will be hungry to start their journey on the road to world supremacy.
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