Greece is lucky that there’s no clear favourite in their group, yet that doesn’t mean they’ve got an easy ride.
Their group includes Asian champions, a top five ranking national team and Africa’s best.
We discuss Greece’s opponents and give our tip for the final result for the blue and whites.

Japan (#47)
While Greece is known for an impenetrable defence, Japan are champions for their attacking flare.
In their 26 games since August 2012, Japan has scored 39 goals. The figure would be impressive but it has also conceded 39 goals thanks to a shaky defence.
Coach Alberto Zaccheroni will be using his training sessions to iron out the defensive kinks early on.
In the lead up to the World Cup, the team has had lots of success with friendlies though, beating Cyprus 1-0 at home and New Zealand 4-2 in March.
Zaccheroni has flirted with a 3-4-3 or 3-6-1 formation in friendlies but seems set to employ a 4-2-3-1 for Brazil which would allow Atsuto Uchida and Yuto Nagatomo to attack from the full-back positions.
Japan’s 2010 World Cup foray saw them qualify and make it through to the Round of 16. Their chances might be a little bit worse this time round, but with quality strikers and the ability to create goals, they might have more of an edge than Greece.

Colombia (#5)
Colombia finished a close second to fellow South Americans, Argentina, in their qualifying group and have the highest ranking in Group C.
They had the best ever return, with 30 points to their 16 games played during qualifying.
Coming into their fifth World Cup, they have a much better chance to get into the top 16, something they have only done once.
Their 1990 glory days are well and truly behind them, but under current coach Jose Pekerman, the team has seen a renaissance. National pride is through the roof, the fact that they will be playing close to their home and a strong attacking squad will make for a tough team to beat.
Pekerman will be training in an attack-minded formation, normally 4-4-2, 4-2-2-2 and 4-2-3-1 variations.
If Radamel Falcao is sidelined thanks to a niggling injury, it will cause a world of pain for the squad. He scored nine times in qualifying and has scored more than 150 goals in five seasons since coming to Europe.

Ivory Coast (#21)
Their qualifying was a textbook case.
Along with Nigeria, they were the only African side to end unbeaten. They easily topped their preliminary group ahead of Morocco before winning a play-off against Senegal 4-2 on aggregate.
Ivory Coast has a much better chance in Brazil than in its two previous tournament appearances. Both of their appearances at the World Cup of late have put them in “groups of death”. They trailed Argentina and the Netherlands in 2006 and Brazil and Portugal in 2010.
Striker Didier Drogba will make his final bow for Ivory Coast and at 36, he has led three contingents to the World Cup and five successive African Nations Cup finals.

Final prediction:
1. Colombia
2. Greece
3. Ivory Coast
4. Japan

*This article appeared in Neos Kosmos’ World Cup magazine, published on June 12.