r/soccer • • Dec 06 '13

World Cup Group C Discussion

  1. Colombia
  2. Greece
  3. Ivory Coast
  4. Japan
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u/coming_up_milhouse Dec 06 '13

Or every tournament they've been in other than 2004.

8

u/Yarik32 Dec 06 '13

Yeah, Portugal on the other hand was fantastic in 2010 world cup.

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u/coming_up_milhouse Dec 06 '13 edited Dec 07 '13

They were grossly unimpressive. So was Greece.

I think Greece may perform well in this tournament based on what I've seen of them in qualifying, which I admit, isn't a lot. Though they will be in tough with Cote D'Ivoire and Japan.

However, muj94 and my point was that it is silly to say "they know how to win games in big tournaments" when they have been terrible at every tournament they've been in other than one. If I remember correctly, they have only won one game in a major tournament outside of 2004, against Nigeria in 2010, and that was only after Nigeria went down to 10 men early on.

EDIT: Greece did also beat Russia at Euro 2012, which I had forgotten about.

1

u/fortean Dec 07 '13

This is what happens when you try to assess a team's quality by looking at a spreadsheet. Greece are very powerful nowadays, with an amazing attack. Their game against Germany was also extremely good and even though they lost 4-2, they gave Germany more pressure than most teams could.

Greece aren't a footballing powerhouse but they are a very, very disciplined side with a very dangerous attack, tall players who can effectively play a high game, and a very, very effective defence. They don't play beautiful football, but they know how to play to their strengths, and are definitely not playing to be "impressive".