Juan Cuadrado, Juan Camilo Zuniga and Victor Ibarbo are among Serie A starters as Colombia take on Greece.
The Group C opener kicks off at 17.00 UK time (16.00 GMT) at the Estadio Mineirao.
Juan Cuadrado, Juan Camilo Zuniga and Victor Ibarbo are among Serie A starters as Colombia take on Greece.
The Group C opener kicks off at 17.00 UK time (16.00 GMT) at the Estadio Mineirao.
Colombia are one of the dark horses for the tournament in Brazil and are packed with Serie A talent.
Among the starters today are Fiorentina” data-scaytid=”13″>Fiorentina winger Cuadrado, Cagliari” data-scaytid=”15″>Cagliari striker Ibarbo, Milan defender Cristian Zapata and Napoli’s Zuniga.
Pablo Armero spent the last few months on loan from Napoli to West Ham, while veteran captain Mario Yepes is an Atalanta centre-back.
However, Inter midfielder Fredy Guarin is out of this first match due to suspension.
There was a heavy blow for Colombia before the tournament, as Radamel Falcao failed to recover in time from a serious knee injury.
Ibarbo somewhat surprisingly gets the nod with Teofilo Gutierrez in attack, leaving Roma transfer target Jackson Martinez on the bench.
Greece famously won Euro 2004 in a shock result, but have struggled to make an impact on major tournaments since then.
They are reliant on a solid defence, having kept eight clean sheets during qualifying, more than any other European side.
However, their record in World Cups is just one win over Nigeria and five defeats.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos shook off an injury, but Kostas Mitroglu is not in the starting XI.
Greece have some Serie A names too, as Panagiotis Kone of Bologna and Roma’s Vasilis Torosidis start.
Colombia: Ospina; Zuniga, Zapata, Yepes, Armero; Aguilar, Sanchez; Cuadrado, Rodriguez, Ibarbo; Gutierrez
Greece: Karnezis; Torosidis, Manolas, Sokratis, Cholevas; Maniatis, Kone; Salpingidis, Katsouranis, Samaras; Gekas