World Cup 2010 - Greece record historic victory

Eurosport - Thu, 17 Jun 16:56:00 2010

Greece recorded their first ever victory at the World Cup finals with a 2-1 win over 10-man Nigeria in Bloemfontein that gives them a fighting chance of reaching the last 16.

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Nigeria had taken the lead through Kalu Uche's 16th minute free-kick that eluded a bunch of players in the penalty area and nestled in the corner.

But the game changed with the dismissal of Sani Kaita 12 minutes before half-time, the midfielder showing total ill discipline to kick out at the thigh of Vassilis Torosidis and referee Oscar Ruiz from Colombia had no option but to show the red card.

Dimitris Salpingidis levelled just before half-time and the hitherto outstanding Nigeria keeper Vincent Enyeama was at fault as he failed to hold Alexandros Tziolis's skidding drive and Torosidis had the simple task of tapping home the 71st minute winner.

Greece need to better South Korea's result in the final round of games to reach round two. The Greeks face Argentina and Korea meet Nigeria.

If Argentina beat Greece then Nigeria could still progress with a victory over Korea, providing they have the best goal difference of the three teams who would be tied on three points in that scenario.

But Greece, who had lost all of their previous four World Cup matches without scoring a goal before today, will saviour their moment which looked unlikely after falling behind early on.

Nigeria went ahead after Socratis Papastathopoulos was booked for tugging back Peter Odemwingie. Uche's free-kick went over the head of Kostas Katsouranis and Odemwingie and nestled in the corner with keeper Alexandros Tzorvas rooted to his line.

However Kaita's moment of madness gave the 2004 European champions a visible boost with coach Otto Rehhagel immediately looking to capitalise on their numerical advantage by bringing on striker Georgios Samaras for central defender Socratis Papastathopoulos.

Lukman Haruna had cleared off the line from Samaras before the equaliser a minute before the break as Kostas Katsouranis laid off to Salpingidis whose shot was deflected off the heel of Haruna and nestled in the top corner with the stranded Enyeama left with no chance.

Enyeama, the star of Nigeria's 1-0 defeat to Argentina, kept his side on level terms after the break with a superb block to deny Theofanis Gekas from point-blank range.

Nigeria immediately counter-attacked with pace only for Chinedu Ogbuke Obasi to miss an open. Yakubu's effort was repelled by Tzorvas but the follow-up fell invitingly to the sub who failed to hit the target with the goal gaping.

Liverpool's Sotirios Kyrgiakos had a host of chances from set-pieces with Enyeama superbly pushing one header destined for the top corner away only to be at fault for the goal.

The Jabulani did play its' part as Tziolis's effort moved in the air and Torosidis was the first to meet the rebound.

Yakubu flashed an effort narrowly past the post but Nigeria failed to create a clear-cut chance to level to leave their World Cup hopes hanging by a thread.

Match Facts

Greece v Nigeria

Goals 2-1

1st Half Goals 1-1

Shots on Target 11-3

Blocked Shots 6-2

Blocked Shots 6-2

Corners 11-3

Fouls 13-14

Offsides 3-1

Yellow Cards 3-1

Red Cards 0-1

Passing Success 83.9%-78.5%

Tackles 13-9

Tackles Success 69.2%-77.8%

Possession 57.3%-42.7%

Territorial Advantage 57.7%-42.3%

Lee Walker / Eurosport

Comment 66 - 85 of 85

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  1. please brothers do not thred kaita he just made a sport­ mistake, think about that greece lose (for90%) and you­ win korea 2-0 nigeria get next round sooo­ simple....what about us and oure goalkeeper his 2 gifts­ to oponent team plus vyntras looseing control with ball­ gives 1 more goal to korea so we should call them­ CRIMINALS but we are not colombians there is coach­ rwong choise bringthem to africa....lets hope the best­ for oure national teams GOOD LUCK...

    From Georgios, on Tue 22 Jun 5:03

  2. There is no difference betwin Amodu and Lars.Let us go­ back and start all over again.However,keita should be­ banned from playing for 9ja for his stupidity.

    From Christian, on Sat 19 Jun 8:59

  3. Let us not be carried away by patrotism,Keita,s­ stupidity or not we have no team to the world cup and­ there is no difference betwin Amodu and Lars­ smallerback.Let us go home and go back to the drawing­ board if we can.

    From Christian, on Sat 19 Jun 8:48

  4. The comment by Livinus proved that we still have­ uncivilised people among us. We are in the midst of­ bring those millitant armed robbers & with this­ ignorant peole like Livius am afraid...

    From Muhammad, on Sat 19 Jun 3:43

  5. i think the reserve bench can make the difference in­ the final match against korean.

    From brighton, on Sat 19 Jun 1:44

  6. Na wao at times l wander wether the problem in our team­ is from coach or players bcos we hv experimnented so­ many coaches & players after the reign of­ Westerhouf & nothing seems working in our­ football is it that upon the population of this country­ they are no football talent to rescue our football­ until the good name Nigeria has recorded in the­ annals of good football nations just vanish in such an­ ignominise way?lf there is anything that give average­ N9ja joy, football is one of them.pls, the NFA should­ be trasparent for once & do something to our­ football before it is too late becos we do not hv a­ sqaud that befits that name "Super Eagles"but­ rather Super Chicken.
    ­ A.John.

    From john, on Fri 18 Jun 23:56

  7. Kaita is a disgrace to Nigerian football,coz its not in­ the attitude of our players to be violent on the­ pitch,I wonder where Kaita learnt that from.Lagerback­ also displayed technical deficiency by first of all­ starting this same Kaita as a right winger when­ Utaka,and even Obasi were in the squad.Why not­ sacrifice one of the attackers preferably the­ ineffective (one shot at goal attacker) Yakubu­ Aiyegbeni and bring in a defensive midfielder to­ replace the dismissed Kaita.Yakubu should probably not­ have even started when Martins was on the bench,he­ would even have been a better option for the­ counter-attacking game plan Lagerback later opted­ for.Martins would probably have scoerd the only shot at­ goal by Yakubu.

    From Monday, on Fri 18 Jun 22:59

  8. This has always being the story of our lives as­ Nigerians. year in year out, tournament after­ tournament same attitude "cry over spilt­ milk".' go back to the drawing board. its­ seems as if we don't even have a board let alone­ draw on it. what is the difference between Amodu­ Shuaibu and Lars Lagerback, absolutely nothing. oh­ sorry Lars gets 50million in six months.
    How else can­ you explain that a coach with any form of technical­ ability, playing a man down, losing 2-1 , have just­ lost your wing backs to injury, is under immense­ pressure and you bring in a defender when you have an­ obafemi martins on the bench."christ" thats­ gross ineptitude. Kalu Uche would have gone to left­ back with Haruna, Etuhu, Ogbouke in midfield Martins­ and Yakubu could easily have caught the greeks on the­ break. I have seen lots of teams play better with 10men­ and that formation would have salvaged at leat a draw.­ The greeks were not so fantastic to have overwhelmed­ the eagles because they were a man down. it is our­ bench that fumbled even I could have done better. I­ pray the Koreans nick us by a goal and progress. they­ are more organised. let us again not deprive a team­ that will do better as we did to the Tunisians. ­ Imagine all the cash we have wasted on the team.

    From clement, on Fri 18 Jun 22:54

  9. Now we will once again forget to mentioned­ categorically that Yakubu missed what would have­ brought Nigeria back into the game, the way Greece­ pounds on Nigeria after the dismissal shown that the­ team was practically built around the stupid young lad,­ but the coach should have immediately brought in­ someone like Kanu who can to some extend hold on to the­ ball in the middle and force the Greek to commit fouls­ then another fast player in Martins who can run in­ times of counter attacks. If Kanu cannot play in that­ match against Greece then he has no reason being at­ South Africa.

    From jimoh, on Fri 18 Jun 22:45

  10. Kaita is a fool. He just dashed the hope of 150 Million­ Nigerians that left all their business and job for the­ match. Let him make sure that he do ot come to­ Nigeria till next year because angry fans will kill him

    From Chibuikem, on Fri 18 Jun 19:49

  11. Despicably inglorious ! Nigeria met their water-loo and­ being slashed by the under dog ... this is unbelievable­ well! , this mayhem in football and sudden death is not­ flirted with Nigerian alone , the BIG NAME in football­ like SPAIN, FRANCE, had the taste of disappointments­ and annihilation , what a blunder , wonder shall never­ ends .

    From Gbemso, on Fri 18 Jun 19:19

  12. Nigeria is a flop, what on earth was going through­ kaita's mind, obasi missed a sitter, u know what­ were out, out of the world cup, were a disgrace, they­ always want us to pray at the last minute, so that­ they'll qualify, well I won't i'd prefer­ them to keep suffering and never progress.

    From Ahmed, on Fri 18 Jun 16:58

  13. They've won a european championship but prior today­ never won a wc match, jesus.

    From Icantsplel OConnor, on Fri 18 Jun 16:43

  14. when i heard the name sani keita i strongly belived­ that this boy will bring trouble to nigeria team cos­ this name is familiar with those who take of casttle in­ nigeria.well he is suppose to be given double red card­ even ban from play football cos the game is call­ football but not footwar .

    From People, on Fri 18 Jun 16:11

  15. Congratulation to the greek team, u deserve the win.­ plz my apologizes on behalf of the low lifes(some of my­ fellow countrymen) getting really emotionally about dis­ with thier commet. u fools( some of the 9jas with­ really pathetic commet) u plp need to learn where to­ channel ur anger towards the bad politicains. plz dont­ put this nation to more pain with ur commet. dont make­ others think all nigerians r like kaita. accept defect­ with some respect. God bless greece. much luv and­ respect to the greek. bolaji from lagos nigeria.

    From Bolaji, on Fri 18 Jun 16:07

  16. all white dudes postin racist coments here are­ fools..y'all need to get a life pronto!! try say it­ in front of an african n see wat happens

    From Jeff, on Fri 18 Jun 16:06

  17. when i heard the name sani keita i strongly belived­ that this boy will bring trouble to nigeria team cos­ this name is familiar with those who take of casttle in­ nigeria.well he is suppose to be given double red card­ even ban from play football cos the game is call­ football but not footwar .

    From People, on Fri 18 Jun 16:05

  18. we have problem whitin us.

    From Onyeka, on Fri 18 Jun 15:57

  19. When did an "Aboki" begin to play football?­ We know them for taking care of cows and joining the­ army. Kanu could have been the better option.

    From Livinus, on Fri 18 Jun 14:52

  20. The red card shows what is exactly wrong with African­ teams. They have a brain of a bird. That hit was­ watched by te linesman, the referee, the 4th official,­ the players of both teams and everyone on TV. If he had­ a normal brian he would have known he would get sent­ off for it. It looks like all 5 teams from Africa are­ heading home after 1st round. At least it won't be­ along trip home for them. This world cup shows that it­ cannot be held in a country that is not ready for it.

    From Half A Brain, on Fri 18 Jun 14:39
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