Greece record their first World Cup victory at the expense of Nigeria.
Greece 2-1 Nigeria
FIFA World Cup 2010
Group B
Thursday 17 June
Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
Greece recorded their first ever victory at the World Cup as they came from behind to beat ten-man Nigeria and keep alive their hopes of reaching the last 16.
Greece looked to be heading out of the competition after Kalu Uche had put Nigeria into the lead early in the first half.
But they were handed a major lifeline when Nigeria midfielder Sani Kaita was shown a red card and Greece made the extra man count as goals from Dimitris Salpingidis and Vassilis Torosidis gave them a memorable victory in Bloemfontein.
Greece are no strangers to causing a big upset at a major competition after stunning the football world to win the European Championships back in 2004 and could defy the odds once again in South Africa.
In stark contrast, Nigeria are now facing a major battle to stay in the tournament having lost their opening two games and will have to beat South Korea in their last match and hope Argentina do them a big favour and beat Greece if they are to stand any chance of reaching the next round.
It could have been a different story if Nigeria had managed to hold on to an early lead given to them by Uche on 16 minutes.
Greece were penalised when Socratis Papastathopoulos pulled back Peter Odemwingie on the right.
Uche curled the resulting free-kick into the box but it somehow managed to miss everybody and flew past Greece keeper Alexandros Tzorvas.
The major turning point of the game came on 33 minutes when Kaita was shown a straight red card for kicking out at Vassilis Torosidis and referee Oscar Ruiz had no option but to send him off.
Greece forced their way back into the game when Salpingidis netted an equaliser on the stroke of half-time when his shot deflected off Haruna Lukman and flew into the back of the net.
Nigeria then blew a golden chance to restore their lead on 61 minutes when Yakubu was clean through on goal but saw his shot saved by Tzorvas. The rebound fell to Chinedu Obasi who somehow managed to drag his shot wide of the post.
The African team were made to pay as Greece scored the decisive second on 71 minutes and it was another goalkeeping mistake which led to the winning goal.
Vincent Enyeama failed to hold onto a shot from Alexandros Tziolis and Torosidis was on hand to knock the loose ball into the back of the net.
Greece
12 Tzorvas, 8 Papadopoulos, 11 Vyntra, 15 Torosidis, 16 Kyrgiakos, 19 Papaststhopoulos (Samaras, 36), 6 Tziolis, 10 Karagounis (C), 21 Katsouranis, 14 Salpingidis 17 Gekas (Ninis, 79)
Goals Salpingidis, 44, Torosidis, 71
Nigeria
1 Enyeama, 2 Yobo (C), 3 Taiwo (Echiejile, 55 (Afolabi, 77), 6 Shittu, 17 Odiah, 12 Uche, 14 Kaita, 15 Haruna, 20 Etuhu, 8 Yakubu, 11 Odemwingie (Obasi Ogbuke, 46)
Goal Uche 16
Referee Oscar Ruiz