Greece 2 Nigeria 1: Greece enjoy maximum profit from Enyeama's gaffe

A blunder by Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama handed Greece their first victory at the fifth attempt in two World Cup finals.

It also helped maintain their slim hopes of an appearance in the next stage although their final Group B game is against Argentina, who have been among the most impressive finalists to date.

Enyeama, whose side were down to 10 men following Sani Kaita's red card, failed to deal with a soft shot from Alexandros Tziolis in the 72nd minute.

The rebound fell to Vasileios Torosidis, who toe-poked the ball home to give Greece victory.

Defeat means Nigeria have an outside chance of qualification but will need to beat South Korea. Yet the game had started so well for them. They took the lead after 16 minutes following a defensive howler by their opponents. Greece failed to cut out an inswinging free-kick from Kalu Uche and goalkeeper Alexandros Tzorvas was left rooted to the spot as the ball nestled in the net behind him.

The match took a dramatic twist in the 34th minute when Nigeria were reduced to 10 men.

Kaita was handed a straight red card by referee Oscar Ruiz following a tussle with Torosidis. Kaita showed his studs to the defender and was immediately banished to the dressing room.

Greece coach Otto Rehhagel reacted by sending on striker Georgios Samaras in place of defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos two minutes later.

Greece levelled a minute before the break when Dimitrios Salpingidis scored, his effort deflecting off a defender after Konstantinos Katsouranis had played the ball into his path.

After Thefonais Gekas saw his close-range effort parried by Enyeama in the 59th minute Nigeria launched a swift counter attack and substitute Chinedu Obasi somehow managed to find the wrong side of the post when it seemed easier to score.

The mistake by their goalkeeper compounded the miss although he did well to beat away Tziolis's effort in stoppage time.

Kaita accepted the referee Oscar Ruiz's decision to award him a red card for a studs-up challenge on Torosidis.

He said: "I would like to apologise to the Nigerian people, my team-mates and to the officials."