Monday 5pm Greece v Czech Republic preview/match thread
Fifa Rankings
Greece - 15
Czech Republic - 27
As the first round of games conclude we circle back round again to group A with Greece against the Czech Republic.
With Russia heavy favourites to win the group, the race for second heats up with both teams needing wins to keep their hopes of reaching the quarter finals very much alive as Greece look to seize the opportunity to go second, if perhaps only momentarily, and the Czech’s fight to avoid being the first side to be eliminated from the competition.
Tactics:
Greece are likely to maintain their 4-3-3 formation and workman-like ethic to continue, although with ‘first game syndrome’ no longer an excuse we could perhaps see the solid mentality relaxed slightly in favour of a more attacking approach in search for goals to progress through the group.
Santos faces a selection headache with Sokratis Papastathopoulos suspended and both Avraam Papadopoulos and midfielder Giorgos Fotakis out with injuries, however Kyriakos Papadopoulos is expected to come into defence.
Czech Republic will be despearate to win the game at all costs and expectations are that they will really go for the win, the team possesses pace amongst its ranks and will be looking to utilize this asset to get behind the Greek defence and gain an early goal to settle the nerves. Veteran goalkeeper Petr Cech will be hoping to cut out the errors for this crucial game and manager Bilek is also reported to be set to make changes to the starting line up by placing Michal Kadlec back to centre half after struggling at left back in the previous fixture.
One to watch:
Giannis Fetfatzidis – Dubbed the ‘Greek Messi’, a young player rated highly in his home country.
Milan Baros – Will be looking to fire his country into contention
Odds:
Greece win: 9/5 (Ladbrokes)
Czech Republic win: 11/8 (Ladbrokes)
Draw: 9/4 (Ladbrokes)
Prediction:
A very determined and motivated Czech side to edge out Greece and take all 3 points leaving group A wide open with everything to play for still.
Czech Republic 2 – 1 Greece
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Comments
Pilar to score anytime ( 7-1 Sporting Bet )
Karagounis to be shown a card ( 12-5 Betfair)
Get in there ! 7-1
Haha, just edited a typo honest!! Thought I'd got it completely wrong after the first 10 minutes though