Costa Rica and Greece will do battle in the Round of 16 in the FIFA World Cup 2014 with a place in the quarter finals at stake. The match will be played at the Arena Pernambuco in Recife on Sunday, June 29.
Costa Rica have been the surprise package of the world cup so far. They have topped a group which boasted the likes of Italy, England, and Uruguay, who had finished second behind the Costa Ricans. Their campaign got off to a flying start as they won 3-1 against Uruguay and followed it up with a 1-0 defeat of Italy. England were the only team to get points off Costa Rica as the third and final match in the group stage saw the two teams play out a goalless draw.
Greece on the other hand have flattered to deceive and only qualified thanks to an injury time penalty kick from Giorgios Samaras which gave them their only win of the group stage against Ivory Coast. The Greeks had been put aside easily by Colombia and were held to a goalless draw by Japan in their other matches in Group C.
Costa Rica have been absolutely brilliant in this tournament. A lot of the football romantics are now in love with them thanks to the brand of football that they play, which is simply an all-out game devoid of an iota of half-heartedness from any of their players.
They have shown that they are extremely efficient at getting the ball back when they lose it by pressing on all areas of the pitch and as a team. Costa Rica have also been able to move around the ball very well and attack from all areas of the pitch.
Although they do not have one player who is great, Costa Rica have a collection of players who have gone about their business extremely professionally and definitely with a lot of pride and patriotism. The likes of Brian Ruiz and company are the favourites to be the happier of the two teams at the final whistle on Sunday.
Greece are extremely lucky to have made it to the Round of 16 at the expense of Ivory Coast, who were going to come through had it not been for the penalty. They are not great in attack and the Greeks have let in a good number of goals during the group stage as well.
Fernando Santos will need to make sure that his charges improve in nearly all departments of the game ahead of this crucial fixture. The Greeks are not the favourites and they know it. However, with Konstantinos Mitroglou and Samaras in their lineup, one could hope for spark of brilliance from the attackers which could decide the match in their favour.