Nigeria Slip On Greece

BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa – Greece earned its first World Cup win Thursday, coming from behind to beat 10-man Nigeria 2-1 in Group B.Vassilis Torosidis scored the winning goal in the 71st minute after a mistake from Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama to make history for Greece, which had lost all four of its previous World Cup matches.Enyeama fumbled a low shot from Alexandros Tziolis and Torosidis pounced on the loose ball for the crucial goal.“Of course it would have been a shame to go home without a point, so we’re very pleased to have scored points here,” Greece coach Otto Rehhagel said.Nigeria had taken the lead in the 16th minute at Free State Stadium when Kalu Uche’s curling free kick from 35 meters (yards) deceived everyone and dropped into the corner of the Greece net.But the game changed in the 33rd when Nigeria midfielder Sani Kaita was shown a straight red card for kicking Torosidis on the touchline.Dimitris Salpingidis equalized in the 44th with a shot that deflected off Lukman Haruna and left Enyeama with no chance.“I think the sending off played a big part in the game,” Nigeria captain Joseph Yobo said. “We were controlling the game before the sending off.“It looks like even if we win the next one (game), we’re not going to qualify, so practically we are out of the tournament,” he said.Greece and Nigeria both made changes to their lineups after opening game losses left both in desperate need of a victory to kick-start their campaigns.“We badly wanted this, because we’d never even scored a goal in the World Cup before,” Salpingidis said. “I can’t say whether we’ll make it out the group. But I can say that we’ll leave with our heads held high.”Nigeria broke through first when Uche’s free kick sailed over the heads of Costas Katsouranis and Peter Odemwingie and into the far corner of the net — with Greece goalkeeper Alexandros Tzorvas completely confused. (AP)