Greece 2-1 Nigeria: Is Nigeria’s done for this World Cup?
The last time Greece participated in the World Cup finals was in 1994 and they lost all their matches without scoring a single goal. South Africa 2010 is their second appearance in the world’s most prestigious football competition and it didn’t look to be getting any better till today. Otto Rehhagel's side were completely outplayed by South Korea in their opening game of Group B and lost 2-0 but today changes everything for them. The former European champions’ performance was as brilliant as one could have expected as they put on a great show in today’s match and really made a place for themselves in the competition.
A new game promised something better and the Greek army bounced back from the defeat to the Asian giants. A defeat for Greece would virtually have seen them knocked out of the competition and indeed the Euro 2004 winners avoided a second loss in the competition.
Nigeria till today had been considered one of the giants of African football but in this World Cup they didn’t prove themselves, they went down in their opening game against Argentina 0-1. The Super Eagles did have their chances and may also point out that Gabriel Heinze’s headed goal shouldn’t have stood, but they had their goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama to thank as he made numerous saves to keep out Lionel Messi & Co.
Like Greece though, Nigeria too knew that a defeat today would ruin their chances of qualification for the second round of the World Cup. Their defeat means that they have zero points from two matches and their elimination from the World Cup would be confirmed if Argentina and South Korea play out a draw.
Greece made Nigeria pay for the sending off of Sani Kaita by clinching a 2-1 win, leaving the Super Eagles on the verge of World Cup elimination. Kalu Uche's free kick put Nigeria ahead, but after Kaita's red card for a kick on Vasilis Torosidis, Dimitris Salpingidis equalised. Torosidis then rubbed salt in Kaita's wounds by striking a 71st minute winner. With both sides desperately needing to take something from this game, neither side was willing to offer an inch as the match got off to a conservative start in Bloemfontein.
The Greeks stuck to their traditional defensive tactics, restricting Nigeria’s ventures forward, but at the same time limiting their own offensive opportunities to speculative shots like the one Kostas Katsouranis offered up from half-field. Feeling the pressure from the Greek defense, Nigeria’s forward approach was continuously halted as the Super Eagles struggled to string more than a handful of passes in midfield.
The Africans’ fortunes changed drastically for the better just past the quarter-hour mark as a free-kick for Kalu Uche was misjudged by Greece ‘keeper Alexandros Tzorvas. The Panathinaikos shot-stopper anticipated a touch by Peter Odemwingie but the Lokomotiv Moscow man let Uche’s ball run through the maze of bodies in the Greece box and it ended up in the back of the net past Tzorvas who was heading in the opposite direction.
Greece were now pressured to attack, but it seemed the Nigerians were looking content to sit back and defend their early lead. The likes of Giorgos Karagounis and Kostas Katsouranis couldn’t find a way past the Nigerian defense, but all that changed when Sani Kaita was shown a red card for an unnecessary kick on Vasilis Torosidis.
The dismissal of Kaita prompted Greece coach Otto Rehhagel to introduce a third striker in Giorgos Samaras as Sokratis Papastathopoulos made way for the Celtic striker. The lanky striker immediately made an impact as he combined well with strike-partners Theofanis Gekas and Dimitrios Salpingidis as the Greeks showed new colours with a more attacking approach.
While Vincent Enyeama continued to show his marvel by denying Gekas a clear opportunity from just a few yards off the goal-line, it seemed now after sixteen years that it was just a matter of time before the Greeks scored their first World Cup goal. Sure enough the goal came a minute before half-time as Dimitris Salpingidis found the back of the net off an unfortunate deflection off the Nigerian defense which seemingly handcuffed Enyeama who was already heading in the opposite direction.
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