WC group 'C' game: Fact file: Japan vs Greece

Head-to-head
The only previous meeting was at the 2005 Confederations Cup, when a goal from Masashi Oguro gave Japan a 1-0 win.

Match facts
Japan
Japan have won two of seven World Cup games against European opposition (D2, L3).

Keisuke Honda has had a direct involvement in four of Japan's last five World Cup finals goals (three goals, one assist). He's the first Japanese player to score at two separate World Cups.

If Honda scores against Greece he will become the first Asian player to score four World Cup goals. Australia's Tim Cahill has five World Cup goals, but two were scored before the Socceroos switched from Oceania to Asia.

In the last 12 months, Japan have played 18 games, keeping clean sheets only twice (against Guatemala and Cyprus), scoring 38 goals and conceding 35.

Greece
Greece could lose back-to-back games for the first time since June 2010.

Coincidentally, those two defeats came against South American then Asian opposition - they lost a warm-up game against Paraguay before being defeated by South Korea in their first World Cup match.

They have failed to keep a clean sheet at the World Cup, conceding an average of 2.6 goals per game - the highest ratio of any side in Brazil.

Four of the last eight World Cup goals Greece have conceded have come from set pieces.

Greece have lost six of seven games at World Cups, failing to score in all those defeats.

Current form
Japan are ranked 46th in the world whereas Greece are 12th according the current FIFA raking

Last 5 matches by Greece
World Cup 2014, Final tournament, Group C
14.06.2014 Colombia - Greece 3:0 (1:0)
Friendly internationals 2014
06.06.2014 Greece - Bolivia 2:1 (1:0)
Friendly internationals 2014
03.06.2014 Greece - Nigeria 0:0
Friendly internationals 2014
31.05.2014 Portugal - Greece 0:0
Friendly internationals 2014
05.03.2014 Greece - South Korea 0:2 (0:1)
They have won 1, lost 2 and drawn of their last 5 matches