Profile
The ultimate underdogs of European football's upper reaches, Greece has been enjoying a Golden Age over the past decade.
While it hasn't been pretty to watch per se, they have only missed one major tournament since shocking Europe by winning Euro 2004.
Always tough to break down, the Greeks only conceded four goals in 100 games in their qualifying group before dispatching Romania to get to Brazil.
The squad contains its fair share of older heads, but younger talents like Ioannis Fetfatzidis will shine, although they will miss promising defender and former Liverpool target Kyriakos Papadopoulos of Schalke whose injury nightmare sees his miss out.
The lack of game-time at Fulham for January deadline day signing Kostas Mitroglou is another concern for manager Fernando Santos.
All these issues were put under the microscope when Team 33's Raf Diallo chatted to Gerard Papasimakopoulos of Skai Radio Greece:
Latest news and features
Samaras' wonderful gesture to a young fan from Armagh
'I don't see where Greece's goals are going to come from'
The Scouting Report – The Greek Messi Ioannis Fetfatzidis
World Cup Record
Appearances: 3
Best Results: Group stage
Squad
Goalkeepers: Orestis Karnezis (Granada, Spain), Panagiotis Glykos (PAOK, Greece), Stefanos Kapino (Panathinaikos, Greece)
Defenders: Vassilis Torosidis (Roma, Italy), Loukas Vyntra (Levante, Spain), Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Borussia Dortmund, Germany), Kostas Manolas (Olympiakos, Greece), Vangelis Moras (Hellas Verona, Italy), Jose Holebas (Olympiakos, Greece), Georgios Tzavellas (PAOK, Greece), Giannis Maniatis (Olympiakos, Greece)
Midfielders: Alexandros Tziolis (Kayserispor, Turkcy), Kostas Katsouranis (PAOK, Greece), Giorgos Karagounis (Fulham, England), Andreas Samaris (Olympiakos, Greece), Panagiotis Tachtsidis (Torino, Italy), Panagiotis Kone (Bologna, Italy), Giannis Fetfatzidis (Genoa, Italy), Lazaros Christodoulopoulos (Bologna, Italy).
Forwards: Georgios Samaras (Celtic, Scotland), Kostas Mitroglou (Fulham, England), Fanis Gekas (Konyaspor, Turkey), Dimitris Salpingidis (PAOK, Greece).
Manager: Fernando Santos
Fixtures and Results
Group C
June 14 vs Colombia (Belo Horizonte) 3 - 0 (L)
June 19 vs Japan (Natal) 0 - 0 (D)
June 24 vs Ivory Coast (Fortaleza) 2 - 1 (W)
