Tuesday June 24th, 2014

Greece (1 point, Fourth in Group C) vs. Ivory Coast (3 points, Second in Group C)

Time: 4 pm Eastern / 1 pm Pacific

Venue: Estadio Castelao, Fortaleza

Television: ESPN2

First Meeting All-Time

Projected Starting Lineup For Greece (4-1-4-1):

Orestis Karnezis

Vasilis Torosidis -- Kostas Manolas -- Sokratis Papastathopoulos -- Jose Holebas

Giorgos Karagounis

Giannis Fetfatzidis -- Giannis Maniatis -- Panagiotis Kone -- Giorgos Samaras

Theofanis Gekas

Projected Starting Lineup For Ivory Coast (4-2-3-1):

Boubacar Barry

Serge Aurier -- Kolo Toure -- Sol Bamba -- Arthur Boka

Chieck Tiote -- Serey Die

Gervinho -- Yaya Toure -- Salomon Kalou

Wilfried Bony

SUSPENSIONS: Greece: Kostas Katsouranis. Ivory Coast: Didier Zokora

SUSPENDED WITH NEXT BOOKING: Greece: Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Dimitris Salpingidis. Ivory Coast: Sol Bamba, Cheick Tiote

Both of these nations still have a good chance to qualify for the knockout round but the task will be much simpler for one nation. Ivory Coast is currently sitting in second place with three points and an even zero goal differential. Japan and Greece are tied with one point each though Japan has a minus-1 goal differential compared to Greece's minus-3.

The task for Ivory Coast is simple: a win will help them advance into the knockout rounds. If they were to draw though, they could still advance with a Japan draw or loss to Colombia but that situation could get interesting if Japan were able to knock off the South Americans. Japan is only one goal behind the Ivory Coast in the goal differential category meaning that a 0-0 draw for the Ivory Coast and a 1-0 win for Japan would leave the teams deadlocked. A 2-0 win for Japan would see the Asian side through to the Round of 16.

Greece is in need of a win and some help. If Greece and Colombia were to win, then the Greek would claim the second spot out of Group C. It would get tricky though if Greece and Japan were to both win as the Greeks would need to make up two goals just to pull level with Japan. A 1-0 win for Japan would require a 3-0 win from Greece; the likelihood of three goals from Greece is very low though as they have scored three or more goals in a match just three time since the start of 2010.

It is very hard to see a result that does not go in the favor of Ivory Coast given their performances in this tournament but do not be surprised if Greece keeps it very interesting for a while with their tough defense. 

Prediction: Ivory Coast 2, Greece 0

Greece Offensive Stats Ivory Coast
20 (6) Shots (On Target) 34 (8)
582 (77.5%) Passes (Accuracy) 849 (86.8%)
394 (65.5%) Passes -- Attacking Half (Accuracy) 452 (70.5%)
197 (63.5%) Passes -- Final Third (Accuracy) 208 (68.0%)
0 Goals Scored 3
  Defensive Stats  
31 (10) Shots (On Target) 18 (8)
932 (86.6%) Passes (Accuracy) 651 (79.0%)
651 (80.9%) Passes -- Attacking Half (Accuracy) 418 (67.5%)
323 (80.5%) Passes -- Final Third (Accuracy) 198 (60.3%)
3 Goals Allowed 3
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About the author
Matthew Evans
Matthew is an American sports journalist based out of Kennewick, Washington. He is a Managing Editor for VAVEL USA as well as Co-editor of the soccer section.