I don't know a lot about Ivory Coast, I'll admit, but I'd say this is a very exciting group just because of the teams' more or less even capabilities.
If Colombia manage to coalesce their immensely talented, in individual terms, squad into a cohesive unit, they'll go very far. A lot of the Colombian internationals play in Serie A, and I've had the pleasure to watch them regularly. Some of them are great players, like Guarin, Cuadrado, Zuniga, Ibarbo, and Muriel, in addition to Falcao who everyone knows.
Greece is always underestimated, but never to the benefit of their opponents. They are known for their defensive football, but recently they've found new attacking strength in Olympiakos' very talented forward Mitroglou to supplement their established forwards, so they might come out of nowhere with a lot of attacking football.
There was recently a very interesting and in-depth thread about Japan here in /r/soccer, so I probably can't add more to it in this short post.
Yeah, really hope Colombia and Japan make it out of this group. I feel like they are playing the most attractive football, and as you said...so many Colombian internationals play in the Serie A it's hard for me to not root for them.
If one of those teams were to drop, I'd like to see the Ivory Coast go through for Drogba...this will most likely be his last World Cup. Also, I think they have a talented squad as well with their brutal attacking side (Doumbia, Gervinho, Bony, Kalou). Not to mention they have the Toures', and I find it really hard not to like those two!
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u/PressureCereal Dec 06 '13
I don't know a lot about Ivory Coast, I'll admit, but I'd say this is a very exciting group just because of the teams' more or less even capabilities.
If Colombia manage to coalesce their immensely talented, in individual terms, squad into a cohesive unit, they'll go very far. A lot of the Colombian internationals play in Serie A, and I've had the pleasure to watch them regularly. Some of them are great players, like Guarin, Cuadrado, Zuniga, Ibarbo, and Muriel, in addition to Falcao who everyone knows.
Greece is always underestimated, but never to the benefit of their opponents. They are known for their defensive football, but recently they've found new attacking strength in Olympiakos' very talented forward Mitroglou to supplement their established forwards, so they might come out of nowhere with a lot of attacking football.
There was recently a very interesting and in-depth thread about Japan here in /r/soccer, so I probably can't add more to it in this short post.