Greek Gods of Lucky Football - Greece vs Nigeria (2:1)

Home: World Cup Finals: South Africa 2010: 1st Round: Match Schedule: Greece vs Nigeria

Thursday, 17th June 2010
Greek Gods of Lucky Football

Going into the game, Greece and Nigeria, both without a point, knew that Argentina had six points and South Korea had three. A draw here and Argentina would qualify for the Second Round by default; a defeat for Greece and the Europeans would be going home.

Typically, Greece - who were yet to score a World Cup Finals goal - started with five at the back and waited for Nigeria to come at them. The West Africans didn't disappoint when Kalu Uche became the first player to score a direct free-kick in South Africa, fifteen minutes into the game.

Vasilis Torosidis, who had already gone down once in a challenge, dropped like a ton of bricks when Sani Kaita needlessly kicked out in frustration as the Greek shielded the ball out of play.

Sani Kaita then hid his head in the green shirt of Nigeria, once he was shown the inevitable red card.

With Nigeria down to ten men, Otto Rehhagel made an attacking substitution; bringing on Giorgos Samaras for Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

Then, just before half-time, fortune struck again for Greece; as Kostas Katsouranis laid the ball into the path of Dimitrios Salpingidis. The Panathinaikos striker's shot deflected off Lukman 'Luckless' Haruna and up over Vincent Enyeama, who played so well against Argentina.

Half-time: 1:1

Kalu Uche, the scorer of the first goal, forced Alexandros Tzorvas to tip the ball over his bar at the start of the second-half; as Nigeria showed they were not content to just sit back and hold on to the draw.

Then, on the next break, Taye Taiwo suffered what looked like a groin injury and momentarily left Nigeria with nine men on the pitch.

On the hour, Nigeria were powering forward again; Tzorvas getting his left palm to Yakubu's drive from close range.

With the extra man eventually proving to much to deal with, Vasilis Torosidis - the player who was involved in the sending-off incident - was first to pounce when Vincent Enyeama had a Robert Green moment, 20 minutes from time.

Shortly after, Yakubu gave Greece another scare; Nigeria not prepared to lie down and roll over until the final whistle.

Greece, lucky to play against ten men, were also lucky with both goals. But it's a win, their first at a World Cup Finals, and Nigeria have it all to do against South Korea.

Final Score:
Greece 2 Nigeria 1

Goalscorers:
0:1 Kalu Uche (15 mins)
1:1 Dimitrios Salpingidis (44 mins)
2:1 Vasilis Torosidis (71 mins)

Man of The Match:
Kalu Uche - Scored from a direct free-kick and didn't give up when Nigeria were down to ten men.

Teams

Greece:
12 Alexandros Tzorvas; 15 Vasilis Torosidis, 8 Avraam Papadopoulos, 16 Sotirios Kyrgiakos, 19 Sokratis Papastathopoulos, 11 Loukas Vyntra; 6 Alexandros Tziolis, 21 Kostas Katsouranis, 10 Giorgos Karagounis; 17 Theofanis Gekas, 14 Dimitrios Salpingidis.

Nigeria:
1 Vincent Enyeama; 3 Taye Taiwo, 6 Danny Shittu, 2 Joseph Yobo, 17 Chidi Odiah; 14 Sani Kaita, 20 Dickson Etuhu, 15 Lukman Haruna; 8 Aiyegbeni Yakubu, 11 Peter Odemwingie, 12 Kalu Uche.

Referee:
Oscar Ruiz (Colombia)

Substitutions:
37 Mins (Greece) - 7 Giorgos Samaras on for 19 Sokratis Papastathopoulos
46 Mins (Nigeria) - 19 Chinedu Ogbuke on for 11 Peter Odemwingie
56 Mins (Nigeria) - 21 Uwa Echiejile on for 3 Taye Taiwo
79 Mins (Greece) - 18 Sotiris Ninis on for 17 Theofanis Gekas

4 Yellow Cards:
15 Mins - Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Greece)
60 Mins - Alexandros Tziolis (Greece)
88 Mins - Giorgos Samaras (Greece)
89 Mins - Chinedu Ogbuke (Nigeria)