Two nations chasing World Cup glory will do battle today in a match between Costa Rica and Greece. The 2014 World Cup group-stage match scheduled for 4 p.m. ET will be held at the Arena Pernambuco in Recife 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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For only the second time in its history, Costa Rica prepares for a Round of 16 match. It's been 24 years since the team was eliminated by the Czech Republic in 1990. Now, head coach Jorge Luis Pinto expects to exceed those previous achievements, but in order to do so, the Colombian native believes his men must "think big."
"We have to think realistically, but we have to think big," said Pinto when asked his opinion on media predictions suggesting Costa Rica could make the semifinals (via FIFA). "But first things first: Let's concentrate on Greece and try to win that."
"Perhaps they didn't do well against Colombia (losing 3-0), and against Côte d'Ivoire they only got the victory in the final minutes, but they will come onto the pitch aggressively and technically they're very good," he added. "They don't have many shortcomings. They can also play a very complex counter-attacking game."
Will Costa Rica be able to put on another tactical masterclass against Greece this evening? Tell us @SportsWN
Tactical Preview
Player to Watch: Stymying the counter-attack runs of Georgios Samaras will be the key to Costa Rica's success on Sunday. The responsibility to do so falls squarely on the shoulders of right centre-back Oscar Duarte. According to the statisticians at WhoScored, the 25-year-old has been dribbled on an average of 1.3 times per match. Bettering that average and playing a more composed 90 minutes of football will ultimately decide the contest.
Costa Rica's Projected Lineup (5-4-1): Navas; Diaz, Duarte, Gonzalez, Umaña, Gamboa; Bolaños, Borges, Tejeda, Ruiz; Campbell
Greece's Projected Lineup (4-2-3-1): Karnezis; Holebas, Manolas, Sokratis, Torosidis; Karagounis, Maniatis; Christodoulopoulos, Samaris, Salpingidis; Samaras
Note: Credit all statistics to officially licensed data from Opta Sports (via WhoScored).
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