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Who would have thought that Costa Rica and Greece will battle it out for a place in the World Cup quarterfinals, but here they are, and it`s a massive chance that neither team wants to miss.
Listen, Costa Rica is no fluke. The Central Americans have proved themselves in a very tough group. You might say they were taken lightly, but that could have only been the case against Uruguay. The win against Italy and the draw against England (who was out of the race, but is still England) have certified that Costa Rica is the real deal and we can expect the same level of football from now on, with the same brilliance on counterattacks, the same fast paced display and the same fighting spirit.
Greece got really lucky against Ivory Coast, they were out of the competition with only 2 points but got a late penalty, which in my opinion was a complete joke, but I do agree that it depends from what perspective are you looking at the so called foul. The Europeans did what they usually do in the Group stage, playing slow paced football, defending well and hoping to be effective up front. I didn’t like Greece at all so far and I don`t think they deserve to be here, but on the other hand I have always said that this is an underrated team who can frustrate anyone on their day, and I tipped them to finish second in the group prior to the World Cup.
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Team news & lineups
Costa Rica has no missing players, while Greece has Kone and Karnezis doubtful. Katsouranis will probably be left out after the Greek supporters created havoc on social media, begging for the 35 year old legend to be left out of the squad due to poor performances.
Costa Rica: Navas – Miller, González, Duarte – Gamboa, Ruiz, Borges, Tejeda, Diaz – Brenes, Campbell.
Greece: Karnezis – Torosidis, Manolas, Papasthathopoulos; Karagounis – Christodoulopoulos, Maniatis – Kone, Samaras, Mitroglou.
You just have to go with the team in form in this latter stages of the World Cup, and I am very happy to pick a Costa Rica win here. They have played much better football than the Greeks, who have been poor so far and got a lucky break against Ivory Coast, who could have easily won that game in the second half. The Central Americans have better fitness and are much faster than the Greeks, key factors in modern football. The thing that worries me it that Greece might sit back and thus deny Costa Rica the opportunity to showcase their counterattacking skills, but I don`t think that the Europeans will simply defend and concede 70% possession. It should be an evenly matched encounter in terms of territorial dominance, but Costa Rica can create chances easier than Greece, they have a good defense and should win in regular time. If Costa Rica gets the lead, I can easily see them destroying Greece on counters late in the game. My tip is Costa Rica to win – odds are dropping on this bet. Prediction: Costa Rica – Greece 4-0.
Pick: Costa Rica
Odds: 2.55 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 12.4
Event date: 29 June
I agree that the Costa Rica is favorite today, and the odds is a relatively high,but 4-0 is a bit too much, given that the Greeks play very defensively, but who nows, i’m expecting 2-0, 1-0 win…
Best regards.
Of course, it`s a stretch, but I just think that Costa Rica could punish Greece with a couple of goals late in the game on the breaks. Nobody ever expects a balanced game to end 4-0 but sometimes it happens, and I have a feeling this might be the case. I just hope people don`t cling to the final score here, my pick is Costa Rica to win and 1-0 would be just fine :).
i don’t think costa rica will win, maybe they will qualify but i don’t see them winning. Why: 1) they will get cold feet for reaching this phase. in the groups they were the clear underdog and everybody thought that they will be heavily smashed. 2) they will have to build up attacks not counter attack, because they are the favourite now. being an underdog suits greece perfect. 3) campbell plays for olympiakos, almost all the greek defenders and DM play for olympiakos so they know him very well. that’s why i’m taking x2 greece and halftime draw. best of luck to everybody
the first two points I took into consideration and explained, the third one I missed, but it`s not crucial. so far you`re on track, but honestly I hope you won`t be with the x2. I want this profit after the way Netherlands ended. But good luck and cheers for the detailed input!
yeah, it simply has been that kind of a month for me, after May was also bad. Lost all the profit and then some in these two months. Today sums it up perfectly, two losses in overtime, instead of +19u I get -16u, huge difference. I`ll step it up in July, bad streaks always happen, there are losing months but never losing years!
actually lost most of my profits for today on greece to qualify, i took them in play just right after the mitroglou chance in min 94. i thought that costa rica will have a very hard time copping with the pressure in 10 man and being equalized in the 92 min will affect their morale. it wasn’t the case and odds were not so good as i thought. tomorrow is a new day and we can recover.
I think you made the right choice (of course, after the game it turns out to be a bad one, but we can only play the probabilities). I really had the same feeling, but I`m not too keen on live betting aside from trading, so after 2 losses I decided to skip the bet. Costa Rica recovered some morale in extra-time but they were really tired – Greece was just too poor to capitalize.
I really thought they will end up losing it at penalties as well, I was thinking they are too tired to kick that ball properly and I reckoned Navas was their only chance. Greece had super experienced players who can really take penalties, but this is sport … you never know for sure.