World Cup Group B preview: Greece v Nigeria
Bloemfontein probably doesn’t have many saloons, but Greece and Nigeria will look upon the city’s Free State Stadium as the venue that will house their last chance at this World Cup.
Defeats in their opening matches – Greece dismally to South Korea and Nigeria meekly, albeit predictably, to Argentina – have placed the World Cup futures of these two in serious doubt, and they meet tonight knowing that while the victor will take the spoils, the loser will surely be heading home after the group stages.
There is nothing positive that can be said about the Greeks’ display against South Korea on Saturday.
Slow, ponderous in possession and seemingly unwilling to replicate the enthusiasm of the Koreans, Otto Rehhagel’s side kept up their record of never having won a match, or indeed scored a goal, at the World Cup finals. They never got close to changing either statistic, and with that in mind, changes to their line-up look inevitable.
Liverpool’s Sotirios Kyrgiakos was a surprise omission from a Greek defence that lacked leadership last weekend and looks set to return, while striker Dimitrios Salpingidis did at least offer some urgency when he came on. Both look likely starters this time around, while Vangelis Moras is available for selection again after injury.
Nigeria didn’t disgrace themselves against Diego Maradona’s Argentinians, and the avalanche of goals that many expected following Gabriel Heinze’s early opener simply never materialised.
Admittedly they were grateful to what was probably the best goalkeeping performance of the tournament so far from Vincent Enyeama, but there was still enough in the Nigerian performance to please coach Lars Lagerback, their manager, and they could even have stolen a point had Kalu Uche kept his late effort down following good work from Yakubu.
The nucleus of that side is more than likely to be kept together, although Peter Odemwingie did impress after coming off the bench at Ellis Park and could earn a start. Left-back Taye Taiwo limped off against Argentina, but he’s made of stern stuff and will play.
Dickson Etuhu complained about a lack of altitude preparation in the build up to Nigeria’s first match, and so there will have been hard work put in on the training pitch ahead of this encounter, as the Nigerians bid for a repeat of their 2-0 group stage victory over at Greeks at USA ’94, when goals from Finidi George and Daniel Amokachi earned them a famous victory as they headed for the second round.
Whether or not anyone will follow in the illustrious footsteps of George and Amokachi remains to be seen, but the Greeks – winless in the year 2010 – looked a spent force against the South Koreans, and Nigeria could just be about to add to that pain.
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