The Greece (Grecia) vs Bolivia pre-World Cup friendly will take place this Friday, June 6, 2014 (5:00 PM Pacific) at the Red Bull Arena. The match played in Harrison, New Jersey will be the last preparation match for the Greeks before the FIFA Brazil 2014 World Cup that is just a few days ahead.
Greece have failed to win their recent three friendly matches. In fact, the Hellenic team did not win a single official match since they defeated Romania at Piraeus back in November on the World Cup Qualification playoff.
Fernando Santos’ teams are never very “expressive” when it comes to scoring goals and Greece is no exception. Greece have only scored four goals over the last six matches, all of them for the World Cup Qualification playoff matches against Romania.
Greece have played two games over the last seven days, first against Portugal at Lisbon, on a bland match that ended in a goalless draw, and a few days later against Nigeria, a very even match that also ended 0-0. Fernando Santos opted for a more conservative approach on both matches, and although he did not alter his usual 4-3-3 style, he privileged counter-attacking movements instead of continuous attacking play.
In truth, the Portuguese manager’s teams are commonly known for their pragmatic style of play, based on a strong and cohese defence wall and always looking to take advantage of their opponents’ mistakes with fast counter-attack moves. It is true that Greece have only scored twelve goals during the UEFA qualification round, but it is also true that they only conceded four goals. The Greeks finished second, behind a far more prolific Bosnia and Herzegovina that scored twice as much as the Hellenic and the latter were then forced to measure forces with Romania on a two match playoff round. Greece seems to be prone to those elimination-type matches as they made it clear on the clashes against the Romanians, which seemed somewhat a stronger and more promising side than the Greeks.
As for Bolivia, the match against Greece will be their second official clash this year after having been defeated by the all-powerful Spain last week. The South American team are on a poor run of results, as they failed to win their last five matches. Bolivia finished the CONMEBOL qualification round second from bottom, with the same points of Paraguay, who finished last a mediocre campaign.
Greece vs Bolivia Prediction
Greece are firm favorites for the match and despite their worrying recent lack of goals, they should have what is needed to defeat Bolivia, a very fragile side. This being said, the most likely outcome is 1-0 for Greece.
Possible Lineups
Greece (4-3-3) – Karnezis – Torosidis – Sokratis – Vyntra – Holebas – Tziolis, Kone, Katsouranis – Salpingidis – Samaras – Mitroglou.
Bolivia (4-5-1) – Quinonez – D. Bejarano – Raldes – Gutierrez – M. Bejarano – Chumacero – Segovia – Melean – Arce – Mojica – Moreno.
Venue: Red Bull Arena (New Jersey)
Capacity: 25,189
Greece vs Bolivia TV Schedule
The Greece vs Bolivia match will be televised on beIN Sports USA at 5:00 PM Pacific.
