The lineups are out for Colombia's clash with Greece in Belo Horizonte, and there are a few surprises of note.
Colombia vs. Greece, World Cup 2014: Lineups
The lineups are out for Colombia’s World Cup opener against Greece.
Jim O’Connor-USA TODAY Sports
Colombia boss José Pekerman has elected to start Víctor Ibarbo up top alongside Teófilo Gutiérrez, with Carlos Bacca instead only on the bench. Otherwise, their lineup is as expected.
However, Greece coach Fernando Santos has been uncharacteristically adventurous with his selection, with his most defensive midfielder, Alexandros Tziolis, replaced by the more expansive playmaker Panagiotis Kone. What's more, veteran forward Theofanis Gekas is surprisingly preferred to Kostas Mitroglou as the lone centre-forward, though he's still flanked by Dimitris Salpingidis and Georgios Samaras.
Colombia starting lineup (4-4-2): David Ospina; Pablo Armero, Cristián Zapata, Mario Yepes, Juan Zúñiga; James Rodríguez, Abel Aguilar, Carlos Sánchez, Juan Cuadrado; Víctor Ibarbo, Teófilo Gutiérrez.
Greece starting lineup (4-3-3): Orestis Karnezis; José Holebas, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Kostas Manolas, Vasilis Torosidis; Giannis Maniatis, Kostas Katsouranis, Panagiotis Kone; Georgios Samaras, Theofanis Gekas, Dimitris Salpingidis.
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