Football teams from all over the world know better than to underestimate Greece at the World Cup, after the European nation beat the odds 2004. Nobody gave them a chance back then but despite the fact that the specter of an untimely elimination was looming from the very beginning, the Greeks kept fighting.
A combination of exact defensive play and a remarkable synergy between players delivered the first continental trophy for the huge underdogs. This time, their ambitions are equally low and all that Greece can hope for is to survive the group stage at the expense of Colombia, Japan and the Ivory Coast.
Group stage and event prospects
Odds of 301 to 1 offered by Bet365 for Greece to win World Cup 2014 count only for statistics, because nobody would wager monopoly money on this outcome. The Greeks have an aging team and even though a couple of young players have emerged as potential replacements for key players in their starting formation, the reconstruction will take years. For the time being, they need to focus at the task at hand, which is to survive the group that is not particularly difficult.
Colombia will be the top contender and the only way, Greece can hope to weather the storm is by defending relentlessly for 90 min. A similar approach doubled by counterattacks against the Ivory Coast might also work, while the Greeks will need to come out firing against Japan. Both teams embrace defensive football and a draw is very likely to help nobody, so they will need to take chances. The odds for Greece to make it out the Group C are 3.25, pretty much the only bet worth considering by those who are hell-bent on betting on the Europeans.
Key players for Greece at the World Cup
Very few players shined brightly during the qualification campaign but Konstantinos Mitroglou exceeded expectations in the playoffs. He managed to score both at home and on the road against Romania, single-handedly defeating their opponents and qualifying Greece to the World Cup. He's not very experienced but got the chance to play for top teams and he obviously has a talent that could be honed in time.
Greece will try to score an early goal and then defend for the rest of the match, but they are not going to come out firing on all cylinders. Their defense is aging and despite the fact that experience is not in short supply, players older than 30 are unlikely to contain the threat posed by the Ivory Coast or Colombia. En route to the World Cup, Greece extracted an astonishing amount from this backline and allowed just four goals, so they have no reason to change their strategy in group C.
While Konstantinos Mitroglou is their best chance to have the top scorer in Brazil, with odds of 151 to 1, Giorgos Karagounis will be the most important player for Greece. He is the captain and a true leader, so despite his age he will be an invaluable help and a reliable provider of top quality passes for the strikers. He will need to help the defense every now and then, as only two players stand out from the crowd in this department: Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Kyriakos Papadopoulos. Salpingidis and Samaras will be playing their last World Cup tournament and they will be looking forward to scoring at least one goal.
The bottom line
There are very few bets worth considering in regard to Greece at the World Cup, with the best value being in the odds of 3.25 to make it to the next stage. A combination of luck and commitment could see the Europeans through at the expense of clearly better teams.
