Greece broke their world cup duck, when they won for the first time ever, in a world cup finals match, against Nigeria yesterday. They were awarded a large slice of luck when Nigeria's Sani Kaita was rightly dismissed after inexplicably attempting to kick his Greek opponent, even though the ball had already gone out of play.
Greece knew that they had to win this game against Nigeria, if they were to stand any chance of qualifying. However, they were almost immediately put on the back foot when Uche scored for Nigeria from a free kick. Uche, who had looked lively against Argentina, gave a dominant Nigeria the lead they deserved. Until the sending off, it looked like Nigeria were going to go on and win quite comfortably, as it didn't look likely that Greece were going to score anytime soon.
This all changed with the red card which was undoubtedly the turning point of the whole match. Kaita walked off the pitch with his shirt covering his face, no doubt ashamed of what he had done when there had been no reason to do so. Torosidis was the man who he had attempted (and actually failed) to kick after the two players had become tangled with one another. I think he knew that he had really made it difficult for his team to see out the win. They still had the best part of an hour left to play against a Greek side, who pounced on the extra man advantage by making some positive, attacking substitutions. Greek coach, Rehhagel brought Samaras on who made a huge difference to the team.
And, just before half time, Greece were able to get themselves back in it, setting up a tasty second half to come. It was Salpingidis with the shot, which took a lucky deflection of the perhaps ironically named Lukman Haruna and gave Greece its first ever world cup goal. They had got themselves back into the game and the second half provided them with the opportunity of grabbing what had previously seemed like an unlikely victory.
Greece made the extra man count in the second half as they pressured Nigeria and it was down to some fine saves by Enyeama that prevented them from being unable to find the back of the net. Nigeria were swift to break on the counter and were denied a good goalscoring opportunity by a great save from Tzorvas and a subsequent miss by Obasi. Other than that, it was all Greece. Despite Enyeama's brilliant saves, he was at fault for the winning goal which was a shot fired in from distance by Tziolis, and much like Robert Green, he was unable to hold on to it, despite having it in his hands. It rolled out of his palms, straight into the path of Torosidis, who was quick to pounce and send it into the back of the net with the goalkeeper absolutely furious with himself. The goal cued wild celebrations from the Greeks who sensed that their first ever world cup win was not too far away in coming.
The game petered out towards the end, as Nigeria were unable to really trouble the Greeks. It was a great result for Greece, but it leaves Nigeria hanging on at the bottom of Group B. The Greek victory also means that Argentina have not yet officially qualified. Whilst Nigeria are not out, they must surely now feel that they have been let down because of a stupid decision by one of their own players, who will miss the next crucial game against South Korea. The result was probably not a fair one, based on the way the game had started. I'm sure that had there been 11 v 11, the Greeks would not have been able to find a way in, as Nigeria had begun the game so well. It's just a shame that a bit of careless thinking might be what prevents Nigeria from qualifying to the last 16.
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