Soccer-Greece striker Mitroglou fit to face Colombia - Santos

By Karolos Grohmann BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil, June 13 (Reuters) - Greece's top striker Kostas Mitroglou is fit to play against Colombia in their World Cup Group C opener on Saturday despite hardly featuring this year due to a knee injury, coach Fernando Santos said. Mitroglou, who became his country's most expensive ever transfer when he joined Fulham in January in a 15 million euro deal, scored three times in their 4-2 aggregate playoff win over Romania last year to help Greece qualify. But he has hardly played since joining the English club due to the nagging knee injury. "Being a player who has an important role in the team due to his characteristics we understand that Kostas should be here," the Portuguese said. "Everything is ok." "I think he has been improving a lot physically so that is not a problem. He may be lacking rhythm a bit but after each day he is better and Mitroglou will be close to his top performances here." The Greece coach, whose team take on Ivory Coast and Japan in their other group matches, played down an injury to defender Kostas Manolas in training on Friday. The player was inadvertently struck in the face by a team mate during their last training session at the Mineirao stadium. "I do not think it is anything serious," Santos said. "The player in the past had a small injury there so we are taking all necessary measures but at this time I do not think it is anything serious." Santos, who refused to comment on what he will do after leaving his Greece post following the end of the tournament, said his team would not be just defending against Colombia. He also said the absence of injured Colombia striker Radamel Falcao would not change the way his team approached the game. "We go into the match to win and that is what we will do tomorrow," said Santos, repeatedly refusing to reveal details of his starting eleven or talk tactics. "The most important part of Greece is the team because if we only play defence then we will lose. You don't play with just four people. I believe we will get the result we want." (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; editing by Justin Palmer)