Costa Rica will play against Greece in the pre quarter final round of the FIFA World Cup 2014 which is going on in Brazil. The match will take place on Sunday at Arena Pernambuco.
A few weeks ago, not too many followers of the game would have seen this match happening in the Round of 16. Neither of these two teams was supposed to get through its respective group, but, the predictions proved to be wrong as both of them managed to qualify.
Costa Rica has actually qualified with conviction. They faced three fairly strong teams in the group round and didn’t let any of them win. They, in fact, secured victories against Uruguay and Italy, while, against England, they shared points.
As far as Greece is concerned, their campaign in the group round was not as clinical as Costa Rica. They had started with a heavy loss against Colombia, but, then, they bounced back with a goalless draw against Japan and a narrow win against Ivory Coast to register a berth in the knockouts.
If the two sides are compared on paper, there is nothing much to choose from. Costa Rica is a bit ahead on the basis of current form, but, Greece has got some highly skilled players and they also have momentum on their side after the way they pulled off that great win against Ivory Coast. So, both the teams appear to have fair chances of winning. It will be more about rising to the occasion.
The knockouts are pretty different from the group games. There will be much more pressure on the players now. So, it will be a test of character and temperament too for the two teams.
The match will start at 9:00 pm British Standard Time.