2014 FIFA World Cup Group C

The two teams had met in one previous match, in a friendly in 1994, where Colombia won 2–0.[1] Colombia midfielder Fredy Guarín was suspended for the match, after being sent off in the team's final qualifier against Paraguay.[2]

Colombia took the lead within five minutes, Juan Cuadrado's cutback was converted by Pablo Armero via a deflection off Greek defender Kostas Manolas. Colombia extended the lead in the second half, when Abel Aguilar flicked on a corner kick from James Rodríguez and Teófilo Gutiérrez scored from close range.[3] Greece's best chance fell to Theofanis Gekas, who headed against the bar. In stoppage time, Cuadrado set up James to complete the scoring with a low shot.[4]

The 3–0 scoreline was Colombia's biggest win to date in the World Cup.[5]

14 June 2014

13:00 UTC−3

Colombia	3–0	Greece
Armero  5' Gutiérrez  58' Rodríguez  90+3'	Report

Estádio Mineirão, Belo Horizonte

Attendance: 57,174

Referee: Mark Geiger (United States)[6]

Colombia

Greece

GK 1 David Ospina RB 18 Juan Camilo Zúñiga CB 2 Cristián Zapata CB 3 Mario Yepes (c) LB 7 Pablo Armero  74' CM 6 Carlos Sánchez  26' CM 8 Abel Aguilar  69' RW 11 Juan Cuadrado AM 10 James Rodríguez LW 14 Víctor Ibarbo CF 9 Teófilo Gutiérrez  76' Substitutions: MF 15 Alexander Mejía  69' DF 4 Santiago Arias  74' FW 21 Jackson Martínez  76' Manager: José Pékerman

GK 1 Orestis Karnezis RB 15 Vasilis Torosidis CB 4 Kostas Manolas CB 19 Sokratis Papastathopoulos  52' LB 20 José Holebas RM 14 Dimitris Salpingidis  55'  57' CM 2 Giannis Maniatis CM 21 Kostas Katsouranis (c) LM 8 Panagiotis Kone  78' CF 7 Georgios Samaras CF 17 Theofanis Gekas  64' Substitutions: MF 18 Ioannis Fetfatzidis  57' FW 9 Konstantinos Mitroglou  64' MF 10 Giorgos Karagounis  78' Manager: Fernando Santos

The two teams had met in three previous matches, all in friendlies, most recently in 2010.[7]

Japan took the lead in the first half, when Keisuke Honda collected a pass from Yuto Nagatomo after a quick throw-in to strike home with his left foot high into the net.[8]

However, Ivory Coast came back with two goals in two minutes in the second half, first Wilfried Bony headed in from Serge Aurier's cross from the right from six yards, followed by a Gervinho header from six yards from another cross from Aurier on the right.[9]

With his goal, Honda became the first Japanese player to score in two World Cups, and also claimed sole possession of being the top Japanese scorer in World Cup history with three total goals.[10]

14 June 2014

22:00 UTC−3

Ivory Coast	2–1	Japan
Bony  64' Gervinho  66'	Report	Honda  16'

Itaipava Arena Pernambuco, Recife

Attendance: 40,267

Referee: Enrique Osses (Chile)[6]

Ivory Coast

Japan

GK 1 Boubacar Barry RB 17 Serge Aurier CB 5 Didier Zokora  58' CB 22 Sol Bamba  54' LB 3 Arthur Boka  75' CM 9 Cheick Tioté CM 20 Serey Die  62' AM 19 Yaya Touré (c) RF 8 Salomon Kalou CF 12 Wilfried Bony  78' LF 10 Gervinho Substitutions: FW 11 Didier Drogba  62' DF 18 Constant Djakpa  75' FW 13 Didier Ya Konan  78' Manager: Sabri Lamouchi

GK 1 Eiji Kawashima RB 2 Atsuto Uchida CB 22 Maya Yoshida  23' CB 6 Masato Morishige  64' LB 5 Yuto Nagatomo DM 16 Hotaru Yamaguchi DM 17 Makoto Hasebe (c)  54' RW 9 Shinji Okazaki AM 4 Keisuke Honda LW 10 Shinji Kagawa  86' CF 18 Yuya Osako  67' Substitutions: MF 7 Yasuhito Endō  54' FW 13 Yoshito Ōkubo  67' MF 11 Yoichiro Kakitani  86' Manager: Alberto Zaccheroni

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The two teams had never met before.[11]

After a goalless first half, Colombia scored first when James Rodríguez headed in Juan Cuadrado's corner.[12] The lead was extended six minutes later when Ivory Coast was caught in possession, and Teófilo Gutiérrez released substitute Juan Quintero to score. Ivory Coast reduced the deficit through Gervinho, who received a pass from Arthur Boka in the left wing, dribbled past three Colombian players and shot home.[13]

The second goal of the tournament by James allowed him to join Bernardo Redín and Adolfo Valencia as the only Colombian players to score more than one goal in the World Cup.[14]

19 June 2014

13:00 UTC−3

Colombia	2–1	Ivory Coast
Rodríguez  64' Quintero  70'	Report	Gervinho  73'

Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha, Brasília

Attendance: 68,748

Referee: Howard Webb (England)

Colombia

Ivory Coast

GK 1 David Ospina RB 18 Juan Camilo Zúñiga CB 2 Cristián Zapata CB 3 Mario Yepes (c) LB 7 Pablo Armero  72' CM 8 Abel Aguilar  79' CM 6 Carlos Sánchez RW 11 Juan Cuadrado AM 10 James Rodríguez LW 14 Víctor Ibarbo  53' CF 9 Teófilo Gutiérrez Substitutions: MF 20 Juan Quintero  53' DF 4 Santiago Arias  72' MF 15 Alexander Mejía  79' Manager: José Pékerman

GK 1 Boubacar Barry RB 17 Serge Aurier CB 5 Didier Zokora  55' CB 22 Sol Bamba LB 3 Arthur Boka CM 20 Serey Die  73' CM 9 Cheick Tioté  90' RW 10 Gervinho AM 19 Yaya Touré (c) LW 15 Max Gradel  67' CF 12 Wilfried Bony  60' Substitutions: FW 11 Didier Drogba  60' FW 8 Salomon Kalou  67' MF 6 Mathis Bolly  73' Manager: Sabri Lamouchi

Arena das Dunas before the Japan x Greece match.

The two teams had met in one previous match, in the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup group stage, won by Japan 1–0.[11]

Greece was reduced to ten men in the first half when Kostas Katsouranis was booked twice in eleven minutes. In the second half, Greece had a Theofanis Gekas header saved, while Japan, which needed at least a point to stay alive in the competition, had chances to score through Yoshito Ōkubo and Atsuto Uchida, but the game finished goalless.[15] The result ensured Colombia's qualification to the knockout stage, their first since 1990.[16]

This was the first clean sheet kept by Greece in World Cup history.[17]

19 June 2014

19:00 UTC−3

Japan	0–0	Greece
	Report

Arena das Dunas, Natal

Attendance: 39,485

Referee: Joel Aguilar (El Salvador)

Japan

Greece

GK 1 Eiji Kawashima RB 2 Atsuto Uchida CB 22 Maya Yoshida CB 15 Yasuyuki Konno LB 5 Yuto Nagatomo CM 16 Hotaru Yamaguchi CM 17 Makoto Hasebe (c)  12'  46' RW 9 Shinji Okazaki AM 4 Keisuke Honda LW 13 Yoshito Ōkubo CF 18 Yuya Osako  57' Substitutions: MF 7 Yasuhito Endō  46' MF 10 Shinji Kagawa  57'   Manager: Alberto Zaccheroni

GK 1 Orestis Karnezis RB 15 Vasilis Torosidis  89' CB 4 Kostas Manolas CB 19 Sokratis Papastathopoulos LB 20 José Holebas DM 21 Kostas Katsouranis (c)  27'  38' CM 2 Giannis Maniatis CM 8 Panagiotis Kone  81' RW 18 Giannis Fetfatzidis  41' LW 7 Georgios Samaras  55' CF 9 Kostas Mitroglou  35' Substitutions: FW 17 Theofanis Gekas  35' MF 10 Giorgos Karagounis  41' FW 14 Dimitris Salpingidis  81' Manager: Fernando Santos

The two teams had met in two previous matches, most recently in a friendly in 2007, and also in the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup group stage, won by Colombia 1–0.[18]

Colombia took the lead mid-way through the first half, with Juan Cuadrado taking a penalty kick, shooting low down the middle after Japan centre back Yasuyuki Konno fouled Colombia striker Adrián Ramos in the box.[19] Japan then equalised through Shinji Okazaki's headed goal from a cross from Keisuke Honda on the right in first half stoppage time. Colombia's James Rodríguez was introduced after the half time break, and was credited for providing two assists for two goals scored by Jackson Martínez, on 55 minutes when he shot low to the net with his left foot, and 82 minutes when he curled the ball in from the right of the penalty area with his left foot, before finishing off the scoring with a strike of his own, assisted by Ramos, where he beat the last man before clipping the ball over the goalkeeper.[20] Colombia, which had already qualified for the knockout stage but needed a point to be certain of winning the group, finished as group winners with a perfect record of three wins out of three, while Japan, which had to win the match to have any chance to qualify, were eliminated.

Faryd Mondragón became the oldest player to make an appearance in the history of the World Cup, at the age of 43 years, 3 days, when he came on for the last five minutes of the match, breaking the record of Roger Milla, who played at the 1994 World Cup at the age of 42.[21] He also set the record for the longest time between World Cup appearances as 15 years and 363 days had passed since his last versus England at the 1998 World Cup, breaking Alfred Bickel's record of 12 years and 13 days between appearances (1938–1950).[22]

24 June 2014

16:00 UTC−4

Japan	1–4	Colombia
Okazaki  45+1'	Report	Cuadrado  17' (pen.) Martínez  55', 82' Rodríguez  90'

Arena Pantanal, Cuiabá

Attendance: 40,340

Referee: Pedro Proença (Portugal)

Japan

Colombia

GK 1 Eiji Kawashima RB 2 Atsuto Uchida CB 22 Maya Yoshida CB 15 Yasuyuki Konno  16' LB 5 Yuto Nagatomo CM 14 Toshihiro Aoyama  62' CM 17 Makoto Hasebe (c) RW 9 Shinji Okazaki  69' AM 4 Keisuke Honda LW 10 Shinji Kagawa  85' CF 13 Yoshito Ōkubo Substitutions: MF 16 Hotaru Yamaguchi  62' FW 11 Yoichiro Kakitani  69' MF 8 Hiroshi Kiyotake  85' Manager: Alberto Zaccheroni

GK 1 David Ospina (c)  85' RB 4 Santiago Arias CB 23 Carlos Valdés CB 16 Éder Balanta LB 7 Pablo Armero DM 15 Alexander Mejía DM 13 Fredy Guarín  63' RM 11 Juan Cuadrado  46' LM 20 Juan Quintero  46' SS 19 Adrián Ramos CF 21 Jackson Martínez Substitutions: MF 5 Carlos Carbonero  46' MF 10 James Rodríguez  46' GK 22 Faryd Mondragón  85' Manager: José Pékerman

The two teams had never met before.[18] Greece midfielder Kostas Katsouranis (red card in previous match) and Ivory Coast defender Didier Zokora (accumulation of yellow cards) were suspended for the match.[23][24]

Greece, which had to win to have any chance to qualify for the knockout stage, went in front in the 42nd minute after Cheick Tioté's defensive mistake allowed substitute Andreas Samaris to steal the ball, play a one-two with Georgios Samaras, and run in on goal before shooting past the goalkeeper with his right foot. In the second half, substitute Wilfried Bony equalised with a low right foot finish after Gervinho's pass from the left. As Japan were losing to Colombia in the other match played at the same time, Ivory Coast only required a point to qualify for the knockout stage for the first time.[25] The game looked to be heading for a draw, until Greece won a penalty in injury time when Giovanni Sio tripped Samaras as he was about to strike the ball, and Samaras scored the penalty hitting the ball to the goalkeeper's left. The win meant Greece finished as the group runners-up, and put them into the knockout stage for the first time in its World Cup history (after unsuccessful campaigns in 1994 and 2010), while Ivory Coast were eliminated in the group stage for the third tournament in a row.[26]

24 June 2014

17:00 UTC−3

Greece	2–1	Ivory Coast
Samaris  42' Samaras  90+3' (pen.)	Report	Bony  74'

Estádio Castelão, Fortaleza

Attendance: 59,095

Referee: Carlos Vera (Ecuador)

Greece

Ivory Coast

GK 1 Orestis Karnezis  24' RB 15 Vasilis Torosidis CB 4 Kostas Manolas CB 19 Sokratis Papastathopoulos LB 20 José Holebas DM 10 Giorgos Karagounis (c)  78' CM 2 Giannis Maniatis CM 16 Lazaros Christodoulopoulos RW 8 Panagiotis Kone  12' LW 7 Georgios Samaras CF 14 Dimitris Salpingidis Substitutions: MF 22 Andreas Samaris  12' GK 12 Panagiotis Glykos  24' FW 17 Theofanis Gekas  78' Manager: Fernando Santos

GK 1 Boubacar Barry RB 17 Serge Aurier CB 4 Kolo Touré CB 22 Sol Bamba LB 3 Arthur Boka CM 9 Cheick Tioté  61' CM 20 Serey Die  70' RW 8 Salomon Kalou  62' AM 19 Yaya Touré LW 10 Gervinho  83' CF 11 Didier Drogba (c)  37'  78' Substitutions: FW 12 Wilfried Bony  61' MF 14 Ismaël Diomandé  78' FW 21 Giovanni Sio  83' Manager: Sabri Lamouchi