World Cup 2014 betting: odds on Greece, long shots to win Group C

Greece has a great defense, but odds makers are not putting much faith in them, as they have the worst odds to win their group, which is one of the weaker ones.

Kostas Mitroglou gives them hope as a legitimate striker they have not had for some time, but he struggled this season after transferring to Fulham from Olympiakos.

Greece did not make it out of the group stage in 2010 and they do not have good betting odds to do it this summer. The Greeks were drawn into Group C along with Colombia, Japan and Ivory Coast.

Greece Odds to win World Cup 2014: +3000
Greece Odds to win Group C: +750

The Greeks have the defense, but the issue is can they score? Their defense will be key, especially facing Ivory Coast and Colombia. Mitroglou will have to play well up front with Celtic's Giorgos Samaras, but after these two the squad really lacks scoring threats.

The squad has not impressed in recent World Cup tune-ups especially losing 2-0 to South Korea.

World Cup Prediction for Greece

While the offense is the issue they match up somewhat well against the other groups. In Ivory Coast and Colombia, who both are solid on the attack, the Greeks will play solid defense and take points away from each.

They will also beat Japan and they may not win Group C, but they will advance to the round of 16.

Greece will likely come in second to a strong Colombia squad and they will have to play the winner of the strong group that includes Italy, England, and Uruguay and they will lose that match.

How Greece got to the World Cup

Greece finished second in their qualifying group behind a surprising Bosnia-Herzegovina. They had the same amount of points, but Bosnia-Herzegovina advanced because of goal differential.

While the defense carried them in qualifying, only conceding five goals in their 10 matches, their offense came up big at home in their 3-1 win over Romania in the playoff tie. They ended up winning the tie in aggregate and overall their qualifying record was seven wins, one loss, and two draws.

World Cup Qualifying Results

12/10/12 Greece 0 - 0 Bosnia-Herzegovina

16/10/12 Slovakia 0 - 1 Greece

22/03/13 Bosnia-Herzegovina 3 - 1 Greece

07/06/13 Lithuania 0 - 1 Greece

06/09/13 Liechtenstein 0 - 1 Greece

10/09/13 Greece 1 - 0 Latvia

11/10/13 Greece 1 - 0 Slovakia

15/10/13 Greece 2 - 0 Liechtenstein

15/11/13 Greece 3 - 1 Romania

19/11/13 Romania 1 - 1 Greece

World Cup Group Play Schedule

14/06/14 Colombia vs. Greece - Estadio Mineirão

19/06/14 Japan vs. Greece - Estadio das Dunas

24/06/14 Greece vs. Ivory Coast - Estadio Castelão

Team Key Players

Konstantinos Mitroglou FW Olympiakos - He is the main striker of the squad and must play like he did when was a goal scoring machine at Olympiakos, before struggling after his transfer to Fulham.

Sokratis Papastathopoulos DF Borussia Dortmund - The anchor of the defense that will really be tested in group play facing Ivory Coast and Colombia.

Giorgos Samaras FW Celtic - He and Mitroglou have to lead the attack and capitalize on scoring chances when they get them, as they not have many.