Football Index: World Cup Finals: Brazil 2014: Colombia vs Greece.
1st Round Matches at Brazil 2014.
Saturday, 14th June
Group Match - Greece Slip Up
Colombia vs Greece in Belo Horizonte.
Colombia and Greece have never met at a World Cup Finals although they did play in New Jersey, prior to USA 1994.
Colombia won the match (2:0) but both teams would be eliminated from the tournament to follow, at the group stage.
Colombia will miss the injured Falcao at this tournament although James Rodriguez may be a revelation as Colombia make their first appearance at a World Cup Finals since France 1998.
1:0
Colombia took the lead in the sixth minute, after a Juan Cuadrado cross from the right was
dummied and left for Pablo Armero. His grass-cutting shot was then steered towards Orestis
Karnezis' lower right post, thanks to a slight deflection from Kostas Manolas.
Manolas redeemed himself in the 25th minute, but going forward Greece struggled to find the creative spark needed to get back on level terms; Georgios Samaras has now gone sixteen matches without a goal.
A couple of the Colombian players tried to encourage their fans to turn up the volume when the ball went out of play for a corner or throw-in.
Panagiotis Kone tried to curl the ball into the top corner just before the break, forcing David Ospina to make his first save of the match for Colombia.
Half-time: Colombia 1 - Greece 0
Greece came out after the break looking a little more lively but Colombia weren't prepared to just sit back either.
Fernando Santos needed to inject a little something extra and soon made the first substitution; Ioannis Fetfatzidis of Genoa on for Dimitris Salpingidis, who had just been booked.
2:0
The substitution did little to unsettle Colombia, who extended their lead when Teofilo
Gutierrez stabbed in a low corner that bounced in the middle of the area; after Karnezis
was already making a dive.
Greece needed to make another substitution.
Just before being substituted, Theofanis Gekas headed onto the bar from a low vantage point, in front of a gaping goal. He would have plenty of time to watch that over in his mind, or even on the large screen; from the bench.
Colombia prepared to make their own substitution; Alexander Mejia on for Abel Aguilar.
With twenty minutes left and two goals in front, the South Americans looked to slow things down and instead of making a double substitution as first intended, staggered their three changes to drag a little more time out of the clock.
Colombia passed the ball around with ease for the final five minutes; their fans now united in singing a happy chorus.
3:0
From a quickly-taken free-kick, Colombia walz around the defeated Greeks and James
Rodriguez end the show with a left-footed strike.
Olé; olé, olé, olè..... indeed.
Final Score: Colombia 3 - Greece 0
Goalscorers:
1:0 - Pablo Armero (6 mins)
2:0 - Teofilo Gutierrez (58 mins)
3:0 - James Rodriguez (90 +3 mins)
Colombia:
1-David Ospina; 18-Juan Camilo Zuniga, 2-Cristian Zapata, 3-Mario Yepes, 7-Pablo Armero;
6-Carlos Sanchez, 8-Abel Aguilar, 10-James Rodriguez, 11-Juan Cuadrado; 9-Teofilo
Gutierrez, 14-Victor Ibarbo.
Greece:
1-Orestis Karnezis; 4-Kostas Manolas, 15-Vasilis Torosidis, 19-Sokratis Papastathopoulos,
20- Jose Holebas; 2-Giannis Maniatis, 21-Kostas Katsouranis, 8-Panagiotis Kone;
14-Dimitris Salpingidis, 17-Theofanis Gekas, 7-Georgios Samaras.
3 yellow cards:
26 mins - Carlos Sanchez (Colombia)
52 mins - Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Greece)
55 mins - Dimitris Salpingidis (Greece)
The Road to Rio
Thursday, 12th June
Brazil vs Croatia
Friday, 13th June
Chile vs Australia
Mexico vs Cameroon
Spain vs Netherlands
Saturday, 14th June
Colombia vs Greece
Côte d'Ivoire vs Japan
England vs Italy
Uruguay vs Costa Rica
Sunday, 15th June
Argentina vs Bosnia
France vs Honduras
Switzerland vs Ecuador
Monday, 16th June
Germany vs Portugal
Ghana vs USA
Iran vs Nigeria
Tuesday, 17th June
Belgium vs Algeria
Brazil vs Mexico
Russia vs South Korea
Wednesday, 18th June
Australia vs Netherlands
Cameroon vs Croatia
Spain vs Chile
Thursday, 19th June
Colombia vs Côte d'Ivoire
Japan vs Greece
Uruguay vs England
Friday, 20th June
Honduras vs Ecuador
Italy vs Costa Rica
Switzerland vs France
Saturday, 21st June
Argentina vs Iran
Germany vs Ghana
Nigeria vs Bosnia
Sunday, 22nd June
Belgium vs Russia
South Korea vs Algeria
USA vs Portugal
Monday, 23rd June
Australia vs Spain
Cameroon vs Brazil
Croatia vs Mexico
Netherlands vs Chile
Tuesday, 24th June
Costa Rica vs England
Greece vs Côte d'Ivoire
Italy vs Uruguay
Japan vs Colombia
Wednesday, 25th June
Bosnia vs Iran
Ecuador vs France
Honduras vs Switzerland
Nigeria vs Argentina
Thursday, 26th June
Algeria vs Russia
Portugal vs Ghana
South Korea vs Belgium
USA vs Germany
2014 World Cup Finals - Knockout Stage.
World Cup Finals
Uruguay 1930:
Uruguay trailed Argentina at half-time (1:2) but replied with three goals in the second half; to win the first ever World Cup Final (4-2)
on July 30th, 1930.
Italy 1934:
Italy were one of the countries who missed out on the vote to host the first World Cup but managed to win the prestigious golden trophy
for the home fans.
France 1938:
The third World Cup was held in Europe for a second time, although Germany had annexed Austria, and Spain was in civil turmoil.
Brazil 1950:
Although no cup-final as such, Uruguay and Brazil went into their final game with the winner guaranteed to be champions; a draw would be enough for Brazil.
Switzerland 1954:
The fifth World Cup tournament produced a record number of goals, including a 7:5 encounter between Austria and Switzerland in Lausanne.
Sweden 1958:
Brazil presented a 17 year-old Pele to the world; who went on to claim a hat-trick in Brazil's 5:2 semi-final win over France and bag another two in the final.
Chile 1962:
Czechoslovakia overcame Hungary in the quarter-finals and Yugoslavia in the semis, while Brazil took care of England and the host nation, Chile.
England 1966:
Geoff Hurst scored a hat-trick, in the final against West Germany, as England triumphed in a thrilling game watched by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.
Mexico 1970:
1970 belonged to Pelé, who earned his third World Cup winners' medal when Brazil got their hands on the Jules Rimet Cup.... for keeps.
W. Germany 1974:
Johan Cruyff was the player of the tournament as total football became the buzzword of the day, even though Holland lost to West Germany in the 1974 final.
Argentina 1978:
Holland contested the 1978 World Cup Final, in Argentina, for the second time in a row. As in West Germany,
they again finished runners-up; to the hosts.
Spain 1982:
The Spain 82 World Cup finals increased to 24 teams and the format was changed to have two group stages, with four second-round groups of three.
Mexico 1986:
In 1986, Mexico became the first nation to stage the World Cup Finals for a second time; having only staged the competition sixteen years previously.
Italy 1990:
In 1990, Italy became the World Cup of stalemates. Both semi-finals were drawn out through penalty kicks. In the final itself, the only goal came from the spot.
USA 1994:
Once Team US had played a few games most of the nation began to understand they were hosting the greatest show on earth and how the game was played.
France 1998:
France became the sixth nation to win the World Cup on home soil. Thirty-two teams competed in the 16th World Cup; better known as France 98.
Korea-Japan 2002:
The 17th World Cup, held in Korea and Japan, was the first World Cup finals to be shared by two hosts and the first to be held in Asia.
Germany 2006:
The 2006 World Cup Finals ran from 9th June to 9th July; the opening
match in Munich and the final in Berlin. Munich and Dortmund hosted the
semi-finals.
South Africa 2010:
Eighty years after the First World Cup Finals in Uruguay, the world's most prestigious football competition was finally hosted on the African continent.
Brazil 2014:
Five times World Cup Champions, Brazil, get a second chance to hold the prestigious World Cup Finals; 64 years after they last hosted the tournament.
Russia 2018:
VAR made its World Cup debut and set out to change the course of a game with some crucial rule infringement watching and vital on the spot decisions.
Qatar 2022:
When FIFA executives met in Zurich to decide on who would host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup Finals, Qatar was probably the biggest surprise to many.
United 2026:
The 2026 FIFA World Cup Finals will be jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico
and the United States. The United Bid won the hosting rights ahead of
Morocco.
Africa - Asia - Caribbean - Europe - Middle East - North America - Oceania - South America.
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