Marco Silva Announced As New Olympiakos Coach

Former Sporting Lisbon boss Marco Silva has been named as the new coach of Olympiakos Piraeus, the Greek champions announced on Tuesday. The 37-year-old Portuguese, who had has contract with Sporting terminated by mutual consent last month, is due to be presented to the local media on Wednesday.

Olympiakos announced his appointment on the club website but gave no contract details. Silva is rated as one of his country's top young coaches, after winning the Portuguese Cup last season in what was his first and only campaign at the club, following a three-year spell at Estoril where he began his coaching career.

WORLD CUP 2014: Costa Rica vs Greece Preview

Proof that this will go down as the single greatest World Cup finals in living memory arrived in the final game of Group C, when Greece beat Ivory Coast to reach the last 16 at the Africans' expense with a penalty so deep into that game that it was almost in this one. The sight of a Greece team attacking their opponents with reckless abandon confirmed there must be something in the air over in Brazil.

Perhaps we shouldn't have been surprised. Despite being drawn in the same group as Colombia and Ivory Coast, the 2004 Euro champions arrived with hopes of reaching the last 16, even if no-one outside of Greece agreed. "It is a very open group," said coach Fernando Santos before a ball had been kicked. "You might say that Colombia has a 55% edge over the rest, with the other teams at 45%."

The Greeks illustrated their resilience by recovering from a 3-0 defeat in the opening game against those Colombians to scrape through at the very death – Giorgos Samaras' penalty (his first goal in 1,478 minutes) edging them onto four points, enough to steal second place.

GREECE vs COTE D'VOIRE PREVIEW: All You Need To Know

This will be the first ever meeting between Greece and Ivory Coast.

Greece’s previous World Cup games against African opposition were both against Nigeria, losing in 1994 (0-2) and winning in 2010 (2-1).

Greece have only won one of their 8 games at World Cup (L6).

WORLD CUP: Japan vs Greece Preview - All You Need To Know

This is Japan and Greece's first World Cup encounter.

Their only previous meeting was in the 2005 Confederations Cup with Japan securing a 1-0 win thanks to a goal by Masashi Oguro. Yasuhito Endo is the only current member of the Japan squad to have taken part in that game.

Greece's only previous World Cup fixture against an Asian side was in 2010 when they lost 2-0 against South Korea in their opening game.

COLOMBIA 3 GREECE 0: Watch The Goals Here

            

WORLD CUP: Colombia vs Greece Preview - All You Need To Know

Greece have lost five of their six World Cup games, winning the other one against Nigeria (2-1) on 17 June 2010.

With 83.3% of defeats at the World Cup, Greece have the second worst ratio in the history of the tournament among teams having played at least six games behind El Salvador (100%).

Since 1966, Colombia have averaged the highest possession (58%), the most ball touches per game (794) and the best pass success rate (85% - min. 10 games) at the World Cup.

NIGERIA vs GREECE TONIGHT: All You Need To know

Nigeria's preparation for the Brazil 2014 Fifa World Cup will step up a notch when the Super Eagles take on the Greek national team in an international friendly in Pennsylvania, United States on June 3.

By the time the match kicks off at at the PPL Park in Chester, coach Stephen Keshi would have pruned down his 30-man squad to the final 23 that will wear Nigeria's colours at the prestigious tournament. .

THE LAST ENCOUNTER......

It is expected that Keshi will use this game to test the core of his squad after reliables like John Obi Mikel, Vincent Enyeama and Kenneth Omeruo were left out of the 2-2 draw with Scotland at Craven Cottage last week.

Micheal Olaitan Wins Greek League With Olympiakos

Olympiakos secured the Greek Super League title on Saturday with a 2-0 victory over Panthrakikos at Karaiskakis Stadium.

A strike from Nelson Valdez and a penalty from David Fuster was enough to seal a comfortable result for Michel's men against the 10-man visitors, giving them an unassailable 18-point lead over Atromitos with five rounds to play.

The initial title celebrations took place in front of an empty stadium, with Olympiakos forced to play behind closed doors as a result of recent supporter violence during an encounter with rivals Panathinaikos.

World Cup: Greece 3 Romania 1