It’s been ten years since they shocked the rest of the continent when winning the Euros in Portugal, but there’ll most likely be no shocks this time around.
Top man
Few names roll off the tongue as easily as Sokratis Papastathopoulos, the Borussia Dortmund defender who will act as the lynchpin in the Greece defence against some very potent-looking opposition strikers in Group C.
The fact that he was the youngest ever captain of AEK Athens at 19 is a testament to his leadership abilities and at his best, he is a commanding and inspirational presence in a side that will probably need all the inspiration they can get to emerge from the group.
Rising Star
Once a target for Newcastle (probably until they realised that he wasn’t French), Kostas Manolas will be hoping to celebrate his 23rd birthday with a win over Columbia on the day of Greece’s first game in Brazil.
With only a handful of caps to date, the Olympiakos youngster is lacking in experience, but he’s very pacey and comfortable on the ball and could act as an able partner for the aforementioned Papastathopoulos at the heart of the Greek defence.
Did you know?
With 132 international appearances to date, sprightly 37-year old Giorgos Karagounis will be amongst the most capped players strutting their stuff in Brazil. The Fulham midfielder might not start every game, but for a man to be going as strong as he is at his age and in his position is quite an achievement.
He currently has one cap more than Robbie Keane, but we all know one of Robbie’s boyhood dreams was to acquire more caps than his Greek counterpart and he should achieve that goal as long as he doesn’t hang up his boots before the start of the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign in the autumn.
If they were a TV series
Sons of Anarchy. Populated by a cast of bearded, old and tough-looking characters and liable to provide a surprise or two, but when it boils down to it, not very good.
Prediction
Forgive us for being overly-dramatic, but it looks as if the World Cup in Brazil is going to represent a Greek tragedy for Fernando Santos’ side.
The other teams in their group, particularly Japan and the Ivory Coast, are no world beaters and as one of the oldest collection of individuals in the tournament – including a few members of the squad that triumphed at the Euros ten years ago – they won’t be lacking in experience, but we can’t see them getting out of the group.
If they do, it is likely to be because of their ability to frustrate their opponents rather than being prolific at the other end, but we can’t see it happening.
Ladbrokes Tournament Odds: 300/1
