First hurdle a little too high

Greece, former Euro champions, have limited ambitions in Brazil

A second consecutive World Cup finals represents a huge success for Greece who want to go a step further than they did in South Africa in 2010 and advance past the group stage.

Greece recorded their first victory and scored their first goals at the World Cup four years ago after an embarrassing maiden World Cup appearance in 1994, when they lost all three group games and conceded 10 goals without reply.

For Greece coach Fernando Santos, who will leave his post after the World Cup, the target is clear.

"The first aim of Greece is to advance and then we will see," said the Portuguese, who also led the Euro 2004 champions to the Euro 2012 quarterfinals.

"We are not going there on holiday. This is our third World Cup appearance and we want to make it to the next stage for the first time."

They are in Group C with Colombia, Ivory Coast and Asian champions Japan. Both the South American and the African teams are physically stronger than the Greeks while Japan is viewed as another uncomfortable opponent.

There is, however, no clear group favourite and Greece's trademark rock-solid defence, which let in just four goals in 10 qualifiers, will again serve as their strongest asset.Three of those goals were conceded in a 3-1 loss to Bosnia, meaning Greece let in just one goal in the other nine games.

Forward Dimitris Salpingidis, who scored four goals in the qualifiers, including one in the playoff against Romania, said: "This time our aim is to reach the last 16. We're in a finely balanced group with no major favourites. It won't be easy, but we can do it. "We have the quality to score at any point. To win, you have to score goals."

But with just 12 goals in their 10 qualifiers, one more than Slovakia who were third 12 points behind, the Greeks need to up their scoring rate.

The team did show in their qualification playoff against Romania that they can score more than one goal when it matters, easing into the tournament with a 4-2 aggregate win with striker Kostas Mitroglou on target three times in the two games.

A lot will depend on the Fulham striker, currently nursing a knee injury, and his form at the tournament.