World Cup Odds Preview: Missing Falcao Throws Group C Wide Open
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Ricky Rothstein
The failure of star Columbian striker Radamel Falcao to overcome his injury and make his country’s World Cup panel throws Group C wide open. Ricky Rothstein reports.
World Cup 2014 Group C Odds
Columbia +2900
Greece +10800
Ivory Coast +15400
Japan +27500
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Columbia
World Cup Outright Odds: +2900
Qualification/World Cup History
The arrival of new head coach Jose Pekerman during the qualifying campaign galvanised Columbia, as he added steel and organisation to the Columbians’ inherent talent. Columbia has not been a power at the World Cup – out of four appearances, it’s only got into the knockout stages once, in 1990.
Player to Watch
In the absence of Falcao, will Columbia look to shore up the defense and hang on? If so, their main man will be Guillermo Cuadrado. Nominally a winger, Cuadrado can play more centrally or as a fullback. For a team that will have to to re-organise on the fly, that adaptability is invaluable.
Team Forecast
Falcao’s absence changes everything. Pekerman had experimented previously with a 4-2-2-2 formation, not seen since Brazil of 1982, but he’s much more likely to shore up shop now and hope for the best from Teo Gutierrez, Falcao’s former striking partner who must now lead the line himself.
Greece
World Cup Outright Odds: +10800
Qualification/World Cup History
Ten years after the event, it’s still hard to believe Greece won the European Championships. But that win changed Greek soccer forever and, from being pushovers, Greece is now a team that is as hard to get past as the three hundred that held Thermopylae.
Player to Watch
Giorgos Karagounis is thirty-six years old, the most capped player in Greek history, and just the man to take the team by the scruff of the neck and power them through by dint of sheer will and pride alone. Karagounis is a veteran of the Euro 2004 team, and is the idol of every member of the panel because of that. There is nothing they will not do for him.
Team Forecast
Fernando Santos may have taken over from Otto Rehhagel as manager but the German’s memory lives on in the Greek style of play. Greece will defend, defend, defend and hope to score from counter-attacks and set plays. Will that be enough? Well, it certainly was in Euro 2004.
Ivory Coast
World Cup Outright Odds: +15400
Qualification/ World Cup History
The Ivory Coast has never qualified from the group stages of the two World Cups in which it has appeared, but it has had shocking draws each time. This World Cup, however, should be third time lucky for the Elephants.
Player to Watch
Didier Drogba. Very much in the twilight of his career now, Didier Drogba in his prime was one of the finest strikers in the world. Big, strong, quick, good in the air and on the deck, he was without an obvious weakness. This is certainly his last World Cup, whatever he has left in the tank he’ll spend it here. There’s no point leaving anything behind now.
Team Forecast
The Ivory Coast hasn’t the defensive fortitude of Greece or Columbia, but it is blessed with genuinely world class attacking players in Drogba, Yaya Touré and Gervinho on the wing. If they can get the luck they’ve been denied in past World Cups, good things can happen for the Elephants.
Japan
World Cup Outright Odds: +27500
Qualification/World Cup History
The Samurai Blue are an intriguing prospect at the World Cup. Long since established as the best team in Asia, Japan is by no means seen as a world power. Could this be the World Cup where that perception changes?
Player to Watch
Shinji Kagawa. A breakout star with Borussia Dortmund, Kagawa has had a frustrating two years collecting splinters on the Old Trafford bench since his move to Manchester United. The World Cup provides a stage to remind new United manager Louis Van Gaal what Kagawa can do.
Team Forecast
Just how good are the Japanese? Being among the first teams to qualify for the World Cup is more a reflection on Asian football than reliable soccer betting yardstick. But Falcao’s injury has thrown the group wide open, and Japan is as well positioned to take advantage as anybody.
Group C Prediction
Group C is a genuinely intriguing group. Greece is ultra-defensive, Columbia will probably have defensiveness thrust on it by circumstance, while the Ivory Coast has more or less given up on defense, and will just hope it can score more than the opposition. And there’s Japan, that seems the most rounded of all the nations in Group C. Can Japan spring one of the World Cup betting shocks of the first round?