Greece, Japan eye improvement - 6pm et/3pm pt (TSN 1050, TSN 690, TSN 1200, TEAM 1410) Natal, Brazil - Two teams hoping to rebound from tough opening-game losses will meet when Greece clashes with Japan in Group C action Thursday at Estadio das Dunas. Greece was on the wrong end of a 3-0 rout to Colombia in its first game of the tournament. They surrendered a goal in just the sixth minute of the contest, and despite some promising attacking play, failed to crawl back into the match. Japan, on the other hand, struck first in its match with Ivory Coast, with Keisuke Honda putting his side into the lead in the 16th minute. The Elephants picked up serious momentum in the second half, though, scoring in the 64th and 66th minutes to pull ahead and grab a 2-1 victory. Both teams will be looking to hang onto their hopes of pushing through to the knockout stage with a crucial three points. Greek midfielder Georgios Samaras insisted there was reason for his side to remain positive moving forward after being held without a goal. "We have more to give at this tournament, but I think we showed something today," he said. "It was a strange game. For the first five or six minutes, we didnt seem to be 100 percent in it and we conceded a bad goal. But after that, we had a lot of possession, a lot of pressure, and created some quite good chances." Japan boss Alberto Zaccheroni claimed his men gave their all but were not quite cohesive enough. "We werent aggressive enough and we need to improve on that because weve been playing better than that," he said. Honda had his own take on where things went wrong, believing that Japan didnt have enough possession. "Possession, that is our strength," said Honda. "When we have the ball we just need to keep the ball and not give it away easily. When we do lose the ball we should press immediately. That is our philosophy. The last game we lost the ball too easily so that is how we spent a lot of energy in the first half, that is the point. That is why we must concentrate on keeping the ball." Given the defensive lapses that contributed heavily to these teams opening- match defeats, Greece will be looking to build on those aforementioned positives, while Japan will be hoping to stay composed for a full 90 minutes and do better on the ball. Both teams will also be hoping for a draw in the match between Colombia and Ivory Coast, the two teams looming overhead at the top of the group. Cheap NFL Jerseys China . He had spent 16 days on the disabled list before being activated Thursday. He was batting just .203 when he came to bat in the 11th inning on Sunday. Wholesale MLB Jerseys . Kelli Stack and Alex Carpenter also scored for the Americans, who avoided a repeat of Finlands upset at the Four Nations Cup in Lake Placid, N.Y., in November. Finnish goalie Noora Raty made 58 saves in that one, but the three-time Olympian could stop just 40 of 43 U. http://www.authenticwholesalejerseys.net/.Y. - Alex Smith and the Kansas City Chiefs didnt flinch in the face of adversity. Wholesale Jerseys For Sale . -- For one night, Nick Calathes provided a big reason to believe the Memphis Grizzlies might be able to withstand the loss of Mike Conley on a short-term basis. Cheap Jerseys From China . CEO Steve Koonin on Tuesday told the Hawks flagship radio station that he made the decision to discipline Ferry but allowed him to keep his job managing the team. He did not say what the punishment was, but noted that he relied on a law firms three-month investigation of Ferry and him describing Deng as someone who has a little African in him.Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino has filed his own NFL concussion lawsuit. Marino, along with 14 other players, filed the lawsuit on May 28 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Marino joins a little under 5,000 retired NFL players and their families that have sued the league across approximately 225 concussion lawsuits. There have been many notable players that have filed lawsuits, including Tony Dorsett, Eric Dickerson, Mark Rypien, Tony Mandarich, Art Monk, Jim McMahon and Jamal Lewis, as well as the estate of the late Junior Seau. None, however, are as well known as Marino. The key allegation raised by Marino is the NFL concealed information. He is arguing that the NFL knew of the long-term neurological impact of headshots but failed to share those findings with the players. This issue of fraudulent concealment was also alleged in the other concussion lawsuits so its not new. Its tough to know if Marino will succeed as everything turns on the evidence presented at trial. To win, he will need to show that the NFL had key and important information about the long-term and devastating impact of headshots and concealed it. The NFL, however, has certain defences available to it. First, it can argue that players were aware of the risk associated with playing football and they agreed to those risks each time they stepped onto the field. The NFL would also maintain that they didnt conceal anything. As well, the NFL could point out that no one can say for sure what caused a players dementia, and even if it was caused by repeated headshots while playing football, how much of that damage was sustained outside the NFL in places like college or high school ball. So what caused the dementia and when it was caused become key issues. The NFL can also argue that Marinos lawsuit doesnt belong in court in the first place, but rather should go to arbitration. The collective bargaining aagreement provides that issues of player health and safety go to arbitration and not court.dddddddddddd. On the flip side, Marino would argue that since this case involves fraud in the form of concealment, it properly falls outside of arbitration and within the jurisdiction of the courts. Bottom line is this: both sides face challenges in this case and thats where we generally see settlement. All this is probably moot, as the league is working on finalizing a global settlement of these cases. You may recall that back in July 2013, the league announced it had settled the concussion lawsuits with the players. The negotiated settlement was for $765 million and would bind every retired NFL player, of which there are about 19,000. You should note, though, Marino is included among these players. So that means that Marino didnt need to file the lawsuit at this time. As well, while settlement was indeed announced, it was not finalized. Before the NFL can consider the case closed, the Court has to approve the terms of settlement. The problem is that on two separate occasions the Court has rejected the settlement on the basis that there is insufficient money to pay all players. As well, even if the Court were to approve the settlement, any of the 19,000 players would have the option to opt-out of the settlement agreement. If a player believes that he can do a lot better filing his own individual lawsuit, he would tell the court and the NFL thanks but no thanks, Im headed to court. The Marino lawsuit may suggest that he is tired of waiting around for a payout from the proposed settlement and wants to take matters into his own hands. Whatever Marinos motivation, these concussion lawsuits are likely to continue for years. In the event a global settlement is approved by the Court, it seems likely that a number of players will opt out and file their own lawsuits. Indeed, there is still a lot of track to cover. ' ' '