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Football » World Cup, 1. round
OddsStatsTip
14.06.2014. 18:00 Finished
Colombia - Greece (3:0)

Colombia attacking the Greek defense

  • Published:

Falcao didn't come to the WC, Martinez had a fight with coach Pekerman; Colombia will need a lot of skill and patience to penetrate the defense of Europe's most defensive team

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Colombia and Greece will start the competition in Group C in Belo Horizonte. The former were dubbed as the favorites to top this group, while the latter are the most defensive European team.

The first question and the biggest problem surrounding Colombia is the absence of their best player and striker.

Radamel Falcao didn't manage to recover from knee injury and will not take part in Brazil as he was unable to recover from the surgery that he had undergone four months ago. Monaco's forward got injured in an "irrelevant" Cup game against a fourth-division team and even though Jose Nestor Pekerman was ready to wait for his striker and put him on the 23-man list even if he were unfit. Falcao ended this huge doubt by saying that "he has no right to take away a place of a teammate that is 100% ready ". 

Falcao scored 9 goals in the qualifiers and Colombia had the most shots on goal (99). But, what's done is done and Pekerman will have to turn to his quartet Bacca (Sevilla) - Martinez (Porto) - Ramos (Hertha) - Guttierez (River Plate) to score goals. They have scored a combined total 75 goals for their clubs this season and Martinez and Bacca led the way with 29 and 21 goals, respectively. They will also be aided by two great offensive midfielders - Rodriguez from Monaco and Cuadrado from Fiorentina. 

However, the game against Greece might be the biggest challenge for Colombia when it comes to attacking tactics. The Greeks are defensive maestros, specialized in killing the pace of every game and Colombians will need a lot of patients and hard work to spread the Greek defense with their short passes and get into scoring chances. The first games on these tournaments also carry a lot of psychological weight and whoever scores the first goal will be under much less pressure. 

- Falcao's not here but we have to deal with that and everyone has to take the responsibility for the performance and the result. Our tactics won't change if we don't have Falcao and some other players, we will look for possession as we didn't come to Brazil for Greece, but for a much higher cause, and the first goal is to pass the group - said James Rodriguez, who was programmed to be the leader of this very talented generation in Falcao's absence.

Pekerman is an experienced coach who always aims to find the winning combination through several game plans and he has certainly studied the Greeks very meticulously. Jackson Martinez is doubtful in his team after getting into a verbal conflict with the coach and he will probably stay on the bench, while their attack will probably be covered by Bacca and Gutierez in a 4-4-2 formation.

- We have a lot of players from big European clubs and we use their experience to form a new team that will play an offensive game. But we have to learn to respect that there are more ways to play football and that the aesthetics are not the main focus of our Greek opponents. It won't be easy to penetrate the Greek fort, but we aim to win today - said the Argentine on Colombia's bench Jose Pekerman.

Greece have shown for the umpteenth time during the preparations for the WC that the spirit of Otto Rehhagel is still very much present in their game, even though coach Fernando Santos claims that his ideas are much more offensive. But the fact stands that Greece got an identical 0-0 result in their two main rehearsals against Portugal and Nigeria, and this result would be good enough for them at the group opening as well.

Their tactics for this game are predictable, they will all be behind the ball and wait for a mistake from their opponents and a chance for a quick transformation into counters and semi-counters. As long as they are level, they will be fine, but if they concede a goal, they will be in trouble as they will have to take more risks. Their center-forward Mitroglou is not completely ready after his long recovery, Gekas is getting old, much like the rest of the team which is among the oldest on the tournament (average age 28.5), but the Greeks definitely have a chance. Experience is an important category, they have automatic discipline in their game and they believe Colombia will struggle to penetrate their block and find empty corridors to approach their goal.

- Colombia play a fast game and we will have to be very aggressive and not give them any breathing space - said the Greek coach Fernando Santos who will leave the national team after the World Cup. An important news for Santos is that their center-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos has recovered and will start today, while the only doubtful player is their midfielder Tachtsidis who will be sidelined, but he's mostly a reserve player anyway.

- For me, this is a group in which all four teams can hope to go through. We really create more chances than people think, we beat Bolivia by 2-1 in the last game, we are optimistic and we believe we can reach the Round of 16 - said Santos. The biggest problem for the Greeks will be adapting to climate conditions as Colombia are on home pitch in these terms, and the Greeks aren't.

- Hot and wet weather could affect our game greatly, but we will do our best and stay undefeated - said the Greek midfielder Costas Katsouranis.

Colombia and Greece have not played a head-to-head at the World Cups and the only game they've played so far was won by Colombia in 1994 by 2-0. 

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Number of points in the group - Greece 3 tip: Under   Omar
Odds Stake Min. odds Bookmaker
2.25 5/10 - Bet Victor
Just like today, the Greeks will rely on their discipline and persistence in the following two games. It has worked for them in the past but they are coming to Brazil with an aging team and I don't see how they could surprise anyone in this group. Just to compare the attacking quality: Colombia have Rodriguez, Bacca and Martinez, Ivory Coast have Kalou,Gervinho and Drogba, Japan have Honda, Kagawa and Okazaki and the Greeks? Their main man is Mitroglou who was unable to get a place in Fulham, a team that was relegation from the Premiership, Samar has been on the market since winter, Gekkas is 34 years old and has had a difficult season in Konyaspor...Katsouranis is also 34, Karagounis is 37, Salpingidis 32...
They haven't beaten anyone at this level since the EC when they got away against the Russians and their best results are 3-1 against Romania in the playoffs and 0-0 against Portugal 2 weeks ago as the Portuguese played without Ronaldo, Moutinho and Coentrao.
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