SAO PAULO, June 19. /ITAR-TASS/. Three matches in Groups C and D will be played at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil on Thursday.

Colombia and Cote d’Ivoire will meet in a match at the national stadium in Brasilia that will be served by a brigade of referees from England headed by Howard Webb who worked at the final match of the World Cup 2010. The leaders of Group C with most equal teams in the tournament were initially rated higher than their rivals from Japan and Greece confirming the status of favorites in opening games. The team from the Latin American country has crushed 3-0 traditionally strongly resisting Greece, whereas the Africans have cracked down Japan’s resistance clinching a 2-1 win for 1.5 minutes.

Uruguay and England will play in the first match of Group D second round in Sao Paulo. Both teams suffered defeats in openers and another failure will certainly cost them a chance to qualify from the group. The intrigue of the match is the state of health of Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez who became the best finisher of the latest English Premier League championship, but missed a match with Costa Rica. The chief referee of the match is Spaniard Carlos Velasco Carballo. When the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) appointed referees it decided to step away from the continental principle and a European referee will serve a match between the two teams from Europe and South America.

Japan and Greece will play in Group C in the city of Natal. Both teams lost their opening matches not convincing of their claims to go through to 1/8 elimination round. Japanese forward Keisuke Honda scored one goal to Cote d’Ivoire; Greece failed to shoot a goal to Colombia, though they tried to press on their rivals. Naturally, Japan and Greece did not lose anything, but a second defeat will be fatal for each of them. Chief referee of the match is Joel Aguilar from El Salvador.

If the match in Natal ends in a draw, a winner of the match between Colombia and Cote d’Ivoire will secure a berth for 1/8 finals. Meanwhile, if the match in Brasilia ends in a draw, a defeated team in the match between Greece and Japan also loses theoretical chances to qualify from the group.