Nigeria succumbed to their second World Cup defeat after losing 2-1 to Greece in Group B on Thursday. A ridiculous red card for midfielder Sani Kaita proved to be the turning point in the game as Nigeria lost their one-goal lead, following a fluke goal from Kalu Uche. A much fortunate strike from Dimitrios Salpingidis leveled the score, marking Greece's first ever World Cup goal. Vasileios Torosidis grabbed the winner for the Greeks in the second half, pouncing on a rare mistake from solid goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama. Nigeria are bottom of the group with no points as Greece come third on three. The African giants must beat South Korea and hope that Greece lose against Argentina next week. Crucial red card Manager Lars Lagerback made two changes to the Nigeria side who lost to Argentina, bringing in wingers Peter Odemwingie and Uche for Victor Obinna and Chinedu Obasi. After 16 minutes of quietness, Nigeria were in front when Uche's freekick into the area deceived Greece keeper Alexandros Tzorvas to go in directly from some 40 yards. Everything was going fine for the Super Eagles until the 33rd minute when a moment of madness from Kaita saw him lash out at Torosidis to receive a straight red card. Greece manager Otto Rehhagel responded quickly by bringing in striker Giorgos Samaras for a defender after three minutes of the sending off. Greece were in control as Salpingidis was thwarted by Enyeama before Lukman Haruna cleared off the line to deny Samaras.
Enyeama One minute from the break, Nigeria were unfortunate to concede when Salpingidis' shot took a wicked deflection off Haruna to go in past Enyeama, who seemed to be equal to the initial shot. Rare error Odemwingie made way for Obasi at half-time as Lagerback surprisingly opted to make no change in his formation after losing defensive midfielder Kaita. For the second game running, Nigeria full-back Somalia Taye-Taiwo had to be taken off injured as Uwa Echiejile came on. As the hour mark approached, there was some thrilling drama in a matter of seconds, with both goalkeepers stealing the show. Nigeria captain Joseph Yobo gave the ball straight to an unmarked Theofanis Gekas, who forced a world-class save from the superb Enyeama on the volley. The loose ball was swiftly forwarded to a clear-on-goal Yakubu, but Greece keeper Tzorvas brilliantly made the save, only for Obasi to blast wide in front of an empty net on the rebound; probably the miss of the competition so far. Minutes later, Enyeama carried on the mission of saving the Nigerians with another elastic save to Samaras' header. But the Nigeria number one couldn't hold on anymore as he spilled Alexandros Tziolis' 72nd minute powerful shot, allowing Torosidis to tap in on the rebound. In the 74th minute, Nigeria's miserable evening continued as substitute Echiejile pulled a hamstring and had to go off after less than 20 minutes of his introduction. Greece held on their victory with no resistance from the Greens, who were lucky not to conceded more thanks to a couple of more saves from Enyeama near the end.
