Two nations chasing World Cup glory will do battle today in a match between Japan and Greece. The 2014 World Cup group-stage match scheduled for 6 p.m. ET will be held at the Estadio das Dunas in Natal and can be live streamed here free. A free Spanish language stream of the match can be found here. Free radio coverage here. Additional TV coverage can be found on ESPN, Univision and ESPN Deportes.
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Both teams return to the pitch on Thursday in search of their first points of the tournament. Despite Greece's reputation to defend, Japan remains wary of the opposition's potency. For head coach Alberto Zaccheroni, finishing chances is of the utmost importance.
"Greece has always stood out for its tenacity and the compact nature of their game," Zaccheroni told reporters on Wednesday (via FIFA). "They [the team] built their success on that. They withstand attacks very well. They're difficult opposition, so we have to exploit our opportunities when they come up."
"This is a very short tournament, so we all know that if you lose one match it gives you little chance of advancing," he added. "But I'm an optimist. Japan has significant potential. Now, we're all just waiting to show that potential in our next two matches, starting with tomorrow. It's fundamental we win if we're going to advance."
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Tactical Preview
Player to Watch: Few players had an impactful performance for Greece on Saturday. Giannis Maniatis was one of the said few who did. The 27-year-old completed 92 percent of his passes and had three dribbles against Colombia, building a small semblance of an attack when given the opportunity. He'll have to do more of the same today if Greece is to stave off elimination.
Japan's Projected Lineup (4-2-3-1): Kawashima; Nagatomo, Morishige, Yoshida, Uchida; Yamaguchi, Endo; Kagawa, Honda, Okazaki; Ozako
Greece's Projected Lineup (4-3-3): Karnezis; Holebas, Manolas, Sokratis, Torosidis; Katsouranis, Maniatis, Kone; Samaras, Mitroglou, Fetfatzidis
Note: Credit all statistics to officially licensed data from Opta Sports (via WhoScored).
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