Ivory Coast's Geoffroy Serey Die cries during the playing of his national anthem before the 2014 World Cup Group C soccer match against Colombia at the Brasilia national stadium in Brasilia
Ivory Coast's Geoffroy Serey Die cries during the playing of his national anthem before the 2014 World Cup Group C soccer match against Colombia at the Brasilia national stadium in Brasilia, June 19, 2014. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

Final Score

Greece 2 Ivory Coast 1

Overview

The thirty eighth match of the FIFA World Cup 2014 is going to be held between Greece and Ivory Coast. The Group C match should be quite an interesting contest between the two as the result of this match will decide if Greece will stay in the tournament or not. Ivory Coast will go to the next round if it wins it.

Teams

Greece: Greece has had a lacklustre tournament so far. After its 0-3 debacle against Colombia, it managed to settle for a goalless draw against Japan. Its extreme defensive strategies have not yet worked so far. It failed to score in its first two matches. It has to score against Ivory Coast as it must win this match with a minimum 3-goal difference and hope that Japan does not win its next match against Colombia. That is the only way it can qualify for the next round. The way it has played so far, it seems pretty unlikely that it will manage to secure such a big win against Ivory Coast. However, it will be "now or never" for Greece as this will be its last chance in the tournament. Things will be difficult anyway while it will miss its captain Kostas Katsouranis due to a red card in the previous match.

Ivory Coast: Ivory Coast has had a mixed tournament so far. It won against Japan. In fact, it was one goal behind when it scored twice to win the game. Its 1-2 defeat against Colombia meant that it would have to wait for the result of this match to determine its future in the tournament. With Japan and Greece having 1 point each after 2 matches, things could have been easier for Ivory Coast which has already secured 3 points. Its coach Sabri Lamouchi was blamed for getting "obsessed" with playing 36-year-old Didier Drogba after the defeat against Colombia. However, Lamouchi defended his decision, indicating that he would continue to trust the most iconic footballer the country ever produced. Ivory Coast must win to secure its berth in the "group of 16" as it cannot depend on how Japan performs against Colombia.

Head to Head

These two teams never played against each other before.

Key Players

Greece: Georgios Samaras and Konstantinos Mitroglou

Ivory Coast: Wilfried Bony and Gervinho

Date, Time & Venue

Brazil's time zone is UTC/GMT -3. The match starts at 5 pm (local time) on June 24, which means it is 6 am on June 25 in New South Wales, Australia. The match will be held at Estadio Castelao in Fortaleza.

Prediction

Greece will continue its disappointing run. Ivory Coast is not going to lose this opportunity to secure a place in the next round. Ivory Coast will win it 3-0.

Group Predictions

Group A, Group B, Group C, Group D, Group E, Group F, Group G & Group H

Reference: FIFA

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au