Greece v Ivory Coast – World Cup preview

The formula is simple for the Ivory Coast: win, and they are through to the Last 16. Lose or draw, and their future depends on the outcome of Colombia v Japan.

Yet while the path to the knockout stages is obvious, the mood of the camp is not. In the last match against Colombia, midfielder Serey Die broke down in tears as the anthems played, leading to mistaken rumours on Twitter that his father had passed away just before the game. He had actually died in 2004.

However, the Toure brothers are genuinely in mourning following the loss of their younger brother Ibrahim, who died on Thursday aged just 28. Both Yaya and Kolo have committed to staying in Brazil with the squad, but tonight is bound to be a more-than-usually charged affair.

Greece have yet to win, score or show any kind of attacking ambition in their two games thus far. Their last match against Japan was not helped by the dismissal of their captain Kostas Katsouranis just before half time, but in truth they never looked like threatening the net, even with a full complement of players.

They could only average a woeful one pass per minute in the second half, yet still could theoretically qualify if they beat the Elephants and results in the other group game go their way.