World Cup 2014
Posted on June 29, 2014 at 9:00 AM
Updated
today at 9:00 AM
Now the question is who will succeed? The defensive resilience and
team spirit of Greece? Or the creativity and hard work of the Costa
Ricans?
Greece and Costa Rica have a combined total of just seven victories
in the history of the World Cup, with the Central American side
qualifying for the first time in 1990 and the Europeans in 1994. Not
many expected either one of them to reach the quarter finals but after
today’s match in the Arena Pernambuco, Recife, that’s exactly what the
outcome will be… a greatly unfancied side will be considered one of the
best eight teams in world soccer.
In midfield, Katsouranis may return in place of skipper Giorgios
Karagounis after serving a one-match suspension. Andreas Samaris, a
goalscorer against the Ivory Coast, may start ahead of an injured Kone
whilst a front three of Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, Giorgios Samaras and
Dimitrios Salpingidis may very well feature as Theofanis Gekas has
failed to impress in previous matches and Konstantinos Mitroglou’s
injury frustrations continue.
Costa Rica will most likely be set up with a back three in a 3-4-2-1
formation with Bryan Ruiz and F.C. Copenhagen’s Christian Bolanos
roaming behind lone striker Joel Campbell who has truly impressed in
Brazil this summer. The same line up used against Italy is expected with
Junior Diaz and Christian Gamboa providing the width and the
hard-working central midfield pairing of Yeltsin Tejeda and Celso
Borges. Levante’s Keylor Navas, a revelation in Spain’s La Liga
recently, will win his 57th cap.
Predicted Score
Greece’s defensive resolve coupled by their team spirit may, in my
opinion, prove to be just enough to help them get past Costa Rica who
are being viewed as favorites.
Greece 1 – 0 Costa Rica
Greece Starting XI (predicted):
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