World Cup Player Profile: Konstantinos Mitroglou

Konstantinos Mitroglou might be the most frustrating signing Fulham have ever made. He was the cherry on top of an impressive crop of January signings that were supposed to save the club from relegation. Instead he was never fit and barely played. And even when he saw the field, he made no contribution.

Ironically, him moving to Fulham might have been the best thing for the Greek team. Felix Magath is a stickler for fitness and Mirtoglou came in very unfit. While he might have been able to play that way in the Greek Superleague, the Premier League and the World Cup are different levels of competition. If Magath whipped him into shape, it will be a good thing for Greece.

Service for Greece: Mitroglou has only been a fixture for Greece beginning with this qualification cycle, but he became the focal point of the offense; scoring eight goals in qualifying. The Greek team plays a more defensive 4-3-3 with Mitroglou up top playing a fairly traditional big center forward role.

What makes him interesting: Mitroglou has a lot to prove. There is no other way to classify his time at Fulham than as a disaster. With the money Fulham spent, they can't release him. Without a huge World Cup performance, he's going to be stuck with the team in the Championship. If he and Greece have success however, he could engineer a loan to a bigger club or even a sale where Fulham recoup their investment.

What to expect in Brazil: There's simply no way to know what happens in this group. Greece has traditionally played a park the bus kind of game that isn't pretty but did win them one major tournament (Euro 2004). But this is also a team who had never even scored a World Cup Goal until 2010. The group though is quite balanced. Not much separates the four teams now that Falcao is out for Columbia. Mitrogoal could appear and carry the Greeks out of the group stage for the first time, which could in turn launch him to a successful club season.