June 14 – Group C’s vital stats. Colombia’s keeper is the oldest player in Brazil, Greece kept eight clean sheets in qualifying, Japan have qualified for the last five World Cups and Ivory Coast the last three.
Group C: Colombia v Greece
Head to Head games
05/06/94 Colombia v Greece 2-0 (International)
http://www.11v11.com/matches/colombia-v-greece-05-june-1994-245101/
Fifa Ranking (June 5th 2014)
Colombia: Rank: 8 Points: 1137
Greece: Rank: 12 Points: 1064
World Cup 2014 Qualifying
Colombia
Second in CONMEBOL Group with 30 points (P16 W9 D3 L4 GF27 GA13)
Greece
Second in UEFA Group G with 25 points (P10 W8 D1 L1 GF12 GA4)
Play-off v Romania: Greece 3 – 1 Romania, Romania 1 – 1 Greece
Colombia v Greece stats
Greece have lost (whilst failing to score) in 5 of their 6 World Cup games, winning only against Nigeria (2-1) in 2010.
Greece kept 8 clean sheets in World Cup qualifying – more than any other European team.
Colombia are known as Los Cafeteros – The Coffee Growers (Over 2.3 million Colombians are dependent on growing coffee).
Colombia have lost 8 of their 13 World Cup matches (W3, D2).
The oldest squad member at the 2014 World Cup is Colombia’s reserve goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon (43 on 21st June). He will beat Roger Milla’s record as oldest World Cup player if he makes an appearance.
There have been 10 red cards in Colombia’s last 12 matches (7 for their opponents).
Forward Georgios Samaras has failed to score in his last 16 games for Greece.
Last 10 Matches
Colombia
WWLDWWDDDW
14/08/13 Colombia 1 – 0 Serbia (International)
06/09/13 Colombia 1 – 0 Ecuador (World Cup Qualification South America)
10/09/13 Uruguay 2 – 0 Colombia (World Cup Qualification South America)
11/10/13 Colombia 3 – 3 Chile (World Cup Qualification South America)
16/10/13 Paraguay 1 – 2 Colombia (World Cup Qualification South America)
14/11/13 Belgium 0 – 2 Colombia (International)
19/11/13 Netherlands 0 – 0 Colombia (International)
05/03/14 Colombia 1 – 1 Tunisia (International)
31/05/14 Colombia 2 – 2 Senegal (International)
07/06/14 Colombia 3 – 0 Jordan (International)
Goals for: 15 Goals against: 9
Greece
WWWWWDLDDW
06/09/13 Liechtenstein 0 – 1 Greece (World Cup Qualification Europe)
10/09/13 Greece 1 – 0 Latvia (World Cup Qualification Europe)
11/10/13 Greece 1 – 0 Slovakia (World Cup Qualification Europe)
15/10/13 Greece 2 – 0 Liechtenstein (World Cup Qualification Europe)
15/11/13 Greece 3 – 1 Romania (World Cup Qualification Europe)
19/11/13 Romania 1 – 1 Greece (World Cup Qualification Europe)
05/03/14 Greece 0 – 2 Korea Republic (International)
31/05/14 Portugal 0 – 0 Greece (International)
04/06/14 Greece 0 – 0 Nigeria (International)
07/06/14 Greece 2 – 1 Bolivia (International)
Goals for: 11 Goals against: 5
Ivory Coast v Japan
Head to Head games
04/10/93 Japan v Ivory Coast 1-0 (Afro-Asian Cup of Nations)
http://www.11v11.com/matches/japan-v-ivory-coast-04-october-1993-244771/
24/05/08 Japan v Ivory Coast 1-0 (International)
http://www.11v11.com/matches/japan-v-ivory-coast-24-may-2008-281644/
04/06/10 Japan v Ivory Coast 0-2 (International)
http://www.11v11.com/matches/japan-v-ivory-coast-04-june-2010-289336/
Ivoty Coast and Japan stats
Japan have qualified for the last 5 World Cups – Ivory Coast the last 3.
Ivory Coast have the best goals to game average of any African side at World Cups (1.5).
Didier Drogba has only had 2 shots on target in 384 minutes at the World Cup. They both both ended up as goals.
Shinji Okazaki was the top scorer in the 2014 Asian World Cup qualifiers with 8 goals.
Ivory Coast were unbeaten in 2014 World Cup qualification, winning 5 and drawing 3.
Japan are most commonly known in Japan, not as “Samurai Blue” but by the managers name – ie “Zaccheroni Japan”.
Fifa Ranking (June 5th 2014)
Ivory Coast: Rank: 23 Points: 809
Japan: Rank: 46 Points: 626
World Cup 2014 Qualifying
Ivory Coast
First in CAF Group C with 14 points (P6 W4 D2 L0 GF15 GA5)
Play-off v Senegal (First in CAF Group J): Ivory Coast 3 – 1 Senegal, Senegal 1 – 1 Ivory Coast
Japan
First in AFC Group B with 17 points (P8 W5 D2 L1 GF16 GA5)
Last 10 Matches
Ivory Coast
WLWLDWDDLW
16/06/13 Tanzania 2 – 4 Ivory Coast (World Cup Qualification CAF)
06/07/13 Nigeria 4 – 1 Ivory Coast (African Nations Championship)
27/07/13 Ivory Coast 2 – 0 Nigeria (African Nations Championship)
15/08/13 Mexico 4 – 1 Ivory Coast (International)
07/09/13 Ivory Coast 1 – 1 Morocco (World Cup Qualification CAF)
12/10/13 Ivory Coast 3 – 1 Senegal (World Cup Qualification CAF)
16/11/13 Senegal 1 – 1 Ivory Coast (World Cup Qualification CAF)
05/03/14 Belgium 2 – 2 Ivory Coast (International)
31/05/14 Bosnia-Herzegovina 2 – 1 Ivory Coast (International)
05/06/14 El Salvador 1 – 2 Ivory Coast (International)
Goals for: 18 Goals against: 18
Japan
WWLLDWWWWW
06/09/13 Japan 3 – 0 Guatemala (International)
10/09/13 Japan 3 – 1 Ghana (International)
11/10/13 Serbia 2 – 0 Japan (International)
15/10/13 Belarus 1 – 0 Japan (International)
16/11/13 Netherlands 2 – 2 Japan (International)
19/11/13 Belgium 2 – 3 Japan (International)
05/03/14 Japan 4 – 2 New Zealand (International)
27/05/14 Japan 1 – 0 Cyprus (International)
03/06/14 Costa Rica 1 – 3 Japan (International)
07/06/14 Japan 4 – 3 Zambia (International)
Goals for: 23 Goals against: 14
Source: www.11v11.c0m