Greece first scored win to beat ten players Nigeria 2-1 in a thrilling encounter victory at a World Cup 2010 first record on Thursday.It also kept their World Cup dreams alive in a match that hinged on a first half red card for the African team.
The Greeces claimed their first World Cup win by rallying to beat 10 players Nigeria 2-1, Vassilis Torosidis poked home a loose ball in the 71st minute after a mistake from Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama to make history for Greece, The Euro 2004 champions, who had lost all three matches in the 1994 finals.
Nigeria broke the deadlock on 16 minutes through midfielder Kalu Uche, who swung in a free kick from near the left corner of the penalty area that eluded everyone and crept in past a bemused Alexandros Tzorvas.But the Super Eagle hopes took a major hit when Sani Kaita was sent off on 33 minutes after kicking out at Torosidis, the Nigerian leaving the pitch in tears.
As half time approached Greece coach Otto Rehhagel threw on forward Georgios Samaras for defensive midfielder Sokratis Papastathopoulos as the Greece, renowned for their defensive minded play, seized the initiative.The pressure paid off when Salpingidis netted Greece's first ever goal in a World Cup finals after his shot deflected into the net off Nigeria's Lukman Haruna to make it 1-1 at half time.
As the second half wore on the game became stretched and in a dramatic spell Theofanis Gekas was denied by Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama before Nigeria raced upfield with Ayegbeni forcing Tzorvas into a smart save and Obasi missing a clear follow up chance
Enyeama, who won his second successive man of the match award despite the mistake on the winning goal, then made a string of saves in the second half. Joseph Yobo said, ''It looks like even if we win the next one, we are not going to qualify, so practically we are out of the tournament,''.
Despite the defeat the Super Eagles retain a mathematical changes of reaching the knockout stages.